Independent beauty brands have been getting much air time of late. Take Summer Fridays – the brand's Jet Lag Mask became the most hyped beauty product of late 2018, escalated only by its cult collaboration with Jen Atkin's The Ouai.
In a move that looks set to strengthen the category even more, omnichannel company Indie Beauty Media Group (IBMG), which produces the Indie Beauty Expo, has partnered with Douglas, a behemoth of European beauty retail.
As well as sponsoring the Indie Beauty Expo in Berlin this March, the Douglas team will also scout and recruit a selection of independent brands to stock in stores during the first half of the year.
“We have focused more on sourcing independent brands for the Douglas assortment because we see independent beauty as a growing trend, and it helps differentiate us from the competition,” says Douglas CEO Tina Müller.
“So far, we have invested in trend sourcing in the United States—the East Coast and West Coast—and Asia. When IBMG came to us with an opportunity to combine forces to source brands and communicate about them in a bigger way in Europe, we believed it would be a great partnership to put as at the forefront of independent brand development.”
This isn't the first retail partnership for IBMG. After determining many stores were pressed to discover indie beauty brands and cater to shifting consumer tastes, it teamed up with companies such as Neiman Marcus, Shen Beauty and Feelunique, to help them identify promising beauty startups. Guidance also offered to smaller brands with regards to retail contracts.
IBMG reports that Douglas has undertaken initiatives to refresh its stores and assortment of products. The retailer added 150 brands to its portfolio last fiscal year and four out its top 30 skincare products were introduced in the last 12 months. It currently has around 2,400 stores across 21 countries.
