Category Archives: Industry News

Veganz, DM Bio and Trend it Up: Drugstore retailer DM is gearing up for battle

Yes, this is a rather tabloid-sounding headline! However, for the last six months German drugstore chain DM has dominated the retail headlines in Germany with a slew of interesting and innovative projects: In April, the DM group introduced its new organic food brand DM Bio (de-listing organic brand Alnatura in the process). Then, DM announced that it would launch an online store plus a brand new own label make-up brand (Trend it Up). And this July, the newspapers reported that DM had entered in a distribution agreement with Berlin-based vegan supermarket chain Veganz to retail a 50-sku portfolio of vegan brands, superfoods and raw food products.

Trend it Up (4)

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Filed under Berlin, Brand Profiles, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trends

Beauty International 2015: [Show Report]

From 27th to 29th March 2015 I was in Düsseldorf, visiting Beauty International, Germany’s biggest trade show for the salon, spa and wellness industry. The professional beauty sector is strong over here and the big German salon brands – like Babor, Alessandro International, LCN, Klapp, Jean D’Arcel, Kryolan or Dr. Grandel – are very successful internationally.

2015 also marked the 30th anniversary for Beauty International. According to organizers Messe Düsseldorf, 51000 visitors from 60 countries attended the trade show and there were 1400 exhibitors in total. And since Beauty International traditionally takes place in conjunction with Top Hair International, the most important German show for the hair salon industry, and the Make Up Artist Design Show, Düsseldorf’s trade show centre was practically bursting at the seams with visitors.

Beauty International 2015 (18)

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Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Trends

Retail notes from Seoul: [Store Profile] Olive Young Lifestyle Experience Center in Myeong-dong

[EDIT 11/5/2018 – Following a major relaunch of the Olive Young store brand across Korea, and the opening of several new (and considerably larger) Olive Young outlets in Seoul, the Myeong-Dong Lifestyle Experience Center was completely remodelled in line with Olive Young’s new look. The store looks entirely different now, with a new interior design and a different brand portfolio; more style and less hallyu. You’re therefore about to take a step into the Olive Young chain’s retail history ; )]

On my very first evening in Myeung-dong area I was randomly walking along the streets, enjoying the very special Myeung-dong evening experience: crowds of shoppers pushing along the narrow streets, music blaring from every store and restaurant, sales staff standing outside the beauty stores announcing special offers to try and lure customers inside, food stalls everywhere, more crowds, more noise…..

Then I drifted past an Olive Young store, one of the many branches that Korea’s leading drugstore retailer operates in the central Seoul area. This particular outlet looked different though, so I drifted right back to check it out. The store was much bigger than the average Olive Young retail space; new, stylish and sophisticated-looking – and indeed, as it turned out this is a new Olive Young retail format. The “Lifestyle Experience Center”, opened in 2012, is an attractive beauty concept store with an integrated café area and a strong hallyu flavour.

Olive Young Myeung-dong (40)

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Vivaness 2015: [Show Report]

Vivaness is over and, as always, it was a fantastic show – l discovered new organic beauty brands (my personal highlights included a certified organic snail mucus face care range and a 7-sku line of dog shampoos!), met interesting people and returned to Berlin with cool cosmetics to try out and plenty of ideas for articles and features. Read on for more information on the organic market in Germany, stats about the trade show and, of course, a list of my favourite Vivaness brand discoveries!

Trade Show Exterior (3)

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Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows

Event: Vivaness 2015

The next important event for me will be Vivaness trade show in Nuremberg. Vivaness is one of the biggest international organic beauty trade shows and definitely the most important organic C&T event in Europe.

This year, Vivaness takes place from 11th to 14th February 2015; as always, the show is run concurrently with Biofach which is THE most important international trade fair for the organic industry. I’ll only be there for the first two days of Vivaness since I’m flying to Tokyo the week after (yay!) but I fully intend to make those two days count! And there is a lot to look forward to. Continue reading

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SPC Magazine: C&T Market Report Germany 2014

Last September I was asked to write the annual German C&T market overview for SPC Magazine – one of my favourite repeat assignments! Here’s the link to the SPC Germany Report 2014 – as usual, please respect the copyright (HPCi Media/cosmeticsbusiness.com).

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Store Profile: Original Unverpackt in Kreuzberg, Berlin

Last autumn an unusual store opened here in Berlin: Original Unverpackt (lit. “originally unpackaged”) is the city’s first supermarket to sell groceries without packaging and in bulk. OU’s founders Milena Glimbovski and Sara Wolf raised the money for their project via crowdfunding which ensured a lively debate in the German media about packaging waste, recycling and food wastage, long before the store even opened.

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Filed under Berlin, Industry News, Mintel, Retail, Store Profiles

[Brand Profile]: Whamisa – organic beauty from Korea

One of my favourite things about trade shows is the chance to discover new beauty labels. I first came across Whamisa at CosmeTokyo 2014 trade show and was immediately struck by the brand: Beautiful packaging, high-quality ingredients, great organic certification (BDIH and Ecocert) and a very attractive 38-sku product range.

Whamisa

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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel

Retail notes from Hong Kong: [Show Report] Cosmoprof Asia 2014

I arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago to attend Cosmoprof Asia, the biggest and most important C&T trade show in the Asian region. This year’s Cosmoprof Asia took place from 12th to 14th November at Hong Kong’s Convention & Exhibition Center in Wan Chai. Click on the link below to read more on the show.

Kowloon (19)

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Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Taipei: [Store Profile] MasKingdom in Ximen

A few days ago I spent the afternoon in the Ximen area of Taipei. Ximen is a teen-oriented neighbourhood which is also called the “Harajuku of Taipei” [Harajuku is a Tokyo area famous for its teen/street fashion style]. The streets in Ximen are full of food stalls, restaurants and cosmetics retailers (including Korean chains Nature Republic, Etude House, Skin Food, Tony Moly and Face Shop, Sasa from Hong Kong and Western favourites L’Occitane and The Body Shop). There are game arcades, cinemas and fashion/accessories stores – Ximen is very loud, very colourful and very VERY crowded. On the weekends this is where large numbers of Taipei’s youngsters hang out.

I was walking aimlessly around the Ximen streets when all of a sudden I came upon MasKingdom – a store which specializes in face masks. Now, this in itself is nothing special: face masks (the foldable kind) are an integral part of the Taiwanese beauty market and the country is famous for its face masks manufacturers (the best-known brands include Sexy Look, My Beauty Diary and LoveMore).  In Taiwan, face masks are a staple in every drugstore and every perfumery chain. However, MasKingdom has a different – and very cool – brand concept.

Maskingdom (1)

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