Douglas is the ubiquitous beauty emporium of Europe, with more than 1,900 stores across 19 countries. We were tasked with redesigning their five-floor Frankfurt flagship, strengthening the brand and creating a far more involved customer experience, positioning Douglas as the expert curator who brings beauty to life.
“Douglas, the ever-present curator who brings beauty to life.”
Frankfurt's footfall is roughly 70% tourists and 30% local, an audience of urban dwellers in tune with the rhythm of cities and hungry for experiences worth talking about back home. Beauty shoppers increasingly want expertise, service and experience, not just shelves of product, so we looked at how Douglas could turn its scale into intimacy, floor by floor.
Cast Douglas as the expert curator, letting customers find both established and emerging brands that are right for them. Give each floor a clear role and its own atmosphere, bridged by a store-wide curated narrative, and let human-centric service, elevated by technology, make a five-floor emporium feel personal.
Trend and story searchers, and the tourists who make up most of the footfall. Hypersensitive to newness and drawn to experience-driven spaces that spark conversation.
Know exactly what works for them and value speed, service and personalisation. Treated like VIPs through the loyalty programme and a considered express journey.
“If you want to make your consumer feel something, you have to know how to translate a brand into a physical space.”
The chosen direction made experience and experimentation the point, not product. Clean lines, polished gold against white lacquer and stone, ivory and marble against plush pink and charcoal, and the iconic Douglas-mint hue bring home comforts and luxury to life. It is a neo-luxe language that melds raw textures with refined, matt with gloss, and pops of colour across soaring architectural statements.
Detailed, manufactured and installed as a full five-floor experience, engineered to feel considered at every touchpoint while standing up to the demands of a busy European flagship. In 2019 it was named European Flagship of the Year by the German Design Council.
European Flagship of the Year. Scale, made to feel personal.