Douglas Focuses on E-Commerce

Douglas, a leading beauty retailer in Europe, says it is accelerating its realignment and strengthening its international management team with the addition of several e-commerce and digital experts in a move to implement its omnichannel strategy. In addition to new management staff for the international and German e-commerce business, Douglas is creating two new positions for international pricing strategy and strategic projects (Project Management Office).


“We are thoroughly aligning Douglas with customers' wishes in an increasingly digital world. Modern management structures, flat hierarchies and a team-oriented and agile corporate culture are prerequisites for this. We are delighted to be able to recruit new additions to Douglas who are digitally accomplished team players with retail experience and a clear customer focus; and who hail from very different areas,” said Tina Müller, Group CEO at Douglas.


At the start of the new year, Vanessa Stützle took up her role as international head of e-commerce at Douglas. The 39-year-old management expert was previously at the fashion and lifestyle company s.Oliver, where she successfully built up and developed the e-commerce business. As chief digital officer, she was most recently responsible for the group's digital and omnichannel strategy, which covers all of its brands. In her new position at Douglas, Vanessa Stützle is responsible for the international online business as well as the continued development of the omnichannel strategy.


On Jan. 15, 2018, Caroline Schmitt (39) will take up the position of head of e-commerce, social media and marketing & PR Germany. She joins Douglas from the car manufacturer Opel, where she was director of content marketing & social media Europe, with responsibility for all Opel and Vauxhall social media channels in Europe as well as influencer relations.


Also on January 15, Malika Mansouri (46) will start as the newly-created position of international head of pricing. In this role, she takes over responsibility for the continued development of the groupwide pricing strategy at Douglas, with a focus on dynamic, digital pricing. Mansouri has over 20 years experience in marketing, business development and pricing. Most recently, she was chief operating officer at the Austrian drugstore chain BIPA, after working 12 years for Metro Group, including as head of pricing for Metro Cash & Carry Germany.


Konstanze Gallinatus (36) joins Douglas on February 15 as international head of PMO. She will be principally responsible for special strategy projects. Currently, she is CFO at the Düsseldorf e-commerce start-up Springlane. Prior to that, she was a management consultant at OC&C, where she managed projects focusing on digitalization and e-commerce, sales strategy including multichannel approaches, price strategy and market positioning.


In this context, the company announces that CEO for Germany Andreas Bork has decided to leave Douglas for personal reasons. The company respects Bork's decision. During a transitional period and with immediate effect, Tina Müller will take over responsibility as group CEO for business operations in Germany and Switzerland.


Douglas is the leading retailer in the European beauty industry with about 2,400 perfumeries in 19 countries throughout Europe and around 20,000 highly qualified employees. Thanks to its multichannel offering that is fully integrated across perfumeries, online shops and a mobile app, along with a continuously updated selection of more than 35,000 products, Douglas is setting the pace in this growing industry. The company generated sales of approx. E2.8 billion in financial year 2016/17.