The growing global economic and political uncertainties have had an increasing impact on the premium beauty sector since the beginning of the year and have led to lower footfall in stores and online. Like many other market players, the DOUGLAS Group was also affected by this development.
As a result of the increasing market weakness and uncertainty on the customer side, Group sales fell by 2.0% to 939.0 million euros in the second quarter (lfl: -2.5%). Adjusted for the online pharmacy Disapo, which was sold in 2024, sales fell by 1.0%.
Influenced by external factors, sales performance varied in the individual segments and channels from January to March. Central Eastern Europe continued to grow strongly with an increase of 7.6%. While Southern Europe (+0.4%) grew slightly, the weaker consumer sentiment was noticeable in DACHNL (-3.7%), France (-2.5%) and at Parfumdreams/Niche Beauty (-0.7%), the company reports.
Store sales remained largely unchanged at -0.1% (lfl: -2.4%), supported by the expansion of the network with a high number of new openings in the past twelve months. Sales in DACHNL and France fell by 2.8% and 2.0% respectively compared to the same period of the previous year. Central Eastern Europe (+5.5%) and Southern Europe (+1.6%) continued their growth trajectory, albeit at a slower pace. E-Com sales fell by 5.6% (excluding Disapo: -2.6%). In Central Eastern Europe, online sales continued to grow and increased by 14.6%. The DOUGLAS Group’s online business accounted for around one third of sales in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year (October 2024 to March 2025), the Group generated sales of around 2.59 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 2.8% (lfl: +2.4%). Net profit rose significantly to EUR 144.0 million – an improvement of 71.7% – mainly due to higher sales, lower operating costs and a significantly improved financial result.
“We have responded decisively to the slowdown in customer frequency and demand for premium beauty by introducing several stabilization measures and reviewing our costs and investment activities,” says Sander van der Laan, CEO of the DOUGLAS Group. “Regardless of the market situation, we are fully convinced of the strength of our omnichannel business model, our unique offering, our brand and our dedicated team. We are the leading premium beauty retailer in Europe and are strongly positioned in both our brick-and-mortar and online business. We expect the premium beauty market to recover in the medium term as soon as the global economic environment improves – and we are well prepared to take advantage of the resulting opportunities.”
At the same time, the DOUGLAS Group continues to expand its store network and is making great progress towards its goal of opening around 200 new stores and modernizing around 400 existing ones by the end of the 2026 calendar year. Between January and March 2025, 9 stores were opened and 28 existing stores were modernized (including relocations). In the same period, 11 stores were closed.
