Category Archives: Retail

Global Art of Perfumery 2013: [Show Report]

Last weekend the Global Art of Perfumery trade show took place in Berlin. The organisers moved it here from Düsseldorf in a bid to re-establish the show concept and, from rumours I’ve heard at other trade shows, help boost visitor numbers which had fallen off in recent years….!

But I’m not here to judge! I’m here to visit the show which is what I did. More on Global Art of Perfumery 2013 after the jump (as one of my favourite Berlin blogs – IheartBerlin – always says….!) Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Berlin, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows

Mintel article: Wheadon

And here is the article on perfumery store Wheadon which I wrote for Mintel’s BPC back in January – enjoy but please respect the copyright!! Wheadon article

Leave a comment

Filed under Berlin, Mintel, Retail, Store Profiles

Social Commerce: [Analysis] The German Beauty Blogosphere

This article was originally intended for one of my journalistic projects. Earlier this year I was commissioned to write a brief analysis of the German beauty blogosphere; what it looks like, who the main players are and a description of the major trends and dynamics. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Trends

Asian colourants: Liese, Schwarzkopf & Beautylabo

I came back to Berlin from my travels in Asia with some 45 kilos of luggage. An additional 5 kilos (mainly face masks, teas and dried flowers, together with plastic Daiso odds and ends) are still in transit via surface mail from Singapore and should arrive in about two months or so. And about 15 kilos of the luggage consisted of cosmetics – including three really cool hair colourants which I bought in Thailand. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Bangkok: Niche beauty from Thailand

I just came back from a short trip to Bangkok where I did some sightseeing, met up with friends and ate as much papaya salad as I could. And of course I also went shopping! Bangkok has some jaw-dropping malls, like gigantic Centralworld (which includes the rather cool Zen department store – this is the store that was damaged by fire together with a part of Centralworld during the riots of 2010 and on my last trip to Bangkok, 2011, it was still being renovated). Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Singapore: [Company Profile] The Daiso empire

Ever so slightly off topic (since Daiso’s not a Singaporean company) but what the heck, it’s my blog and I can write whatever I like!
So now you’ll be hearing about one of my favourite Asian retail chains ever: Japanese household goods discounter chain Daiso. I discovered Daiso during my first trip to Japan (well, my first trip to Japan as an adult) and immediately became a fan. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Brand Profiles, Retail, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Singapore: 7-11 travel-sized C&T

The 7-11 convenience store chain over here has introduced a very attractive way of presenting travel sized cosmetics – slim towers of small cardboard boxes filled with cosmetics from a wide range of brands. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Singapore: Masked beauty

One of my favourite Asian product categories is face masks and more precisely, foldable cloth masks. It is by far the popular mask format over here and virtually all the brands on sale are from Taiwan, Korea or Japan. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

Retail notes from Singapore: Essence is in town!

For the last six years I’ve been regularly visiting Singapore. I go there once a year, usually for a month, staying with a friend of mine and taking brief side-trips into the other countries in the region. No matter which country I go to I always spend a lot of time in stores and shopping malls to check out retail trends (also, all of SEA is hot and humid and I like aircon!), and to simply enjoy the Asian mall experience. Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

Niche Parfum & Showroom – Art and indie fragrances in Prenzlauer Berg

Earlier this week I visited Niche (store website), a brand new art-and-perfume store in Rykestraße 16. Artist Chris Gräfensteiner opened her fragrance/showroom in December; she sells her own artwork, fragrances from L’Artisan Parfumeur and Six Scents and Berlin accessories label Wanawake. A beautiful store and a really cool retail concept; Niche will also be my next Mintel article.

Leave a comment

Filed under Berlin, Mintel, Retail