Douglas, Europe's leading premium beauty platform, is launching a competition for start-ups for the third time - this year called BEAUTY FUTURES - The Douglas Innovation Pitch. Innovative start-ups and companies in the areas of "Beauty Brand", "Beauty Technology" and "Green Retail" can take part. The third category is a novelty and targets the growing need for improved sustainability in retail.
"With the BEAUTY FUTURES - The Douglas Innovation Pitch competition, we will continue to shape the future of the European beauty market. At the same time, we are promoting committed entrepreneurs. With the new category "Green Retail", we now also offer start-ups a forum to present solutions for improving sustainability in retail. We are looking forward to new ideas that support our digitalisation strategy #FORWARDBEAUTYDigitalfirst and further strengthen our market position as Europe's leading premium beauty platform," says Tina Müller, Douglas Group CEO.
In the "Beauty Brand" category, Douglas is looking for revolutionary product ideas in the areas of skin care, make-up, fragrance, nutritional supplements, or hair care that will meaningfully expand the Douglas range. The "Beauty Technology" category rewards unique ideas that enrich the Douglas customer experience and create a new connection to the customer. These can be technologies that focus on data management, AI or AR and are used in retail shops, in the online shop, in the app or in social media. With the newly introduced category "Green Retail ", Douglas is looking for start-ups that develop ground-breaking solutions to improve sustainability in retail, be it for Douglas stores, the e-commerce business, in purchasing or logistics.
The top-class jury is made up of representatives from the Douglas management and external personalities. These include Tina Müller, CEO of the Douglas Group, Beate Fastrich, business angel and early-stage investor, Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, co-founder and CEO of ada, Christian Miele, President of the German Start-up Association and partner at Headline, Verena Pausder, founder and author, and Lea-Sophie Cramer, entrepreneur and angel investor.
"Supporting innovative, young companies is a matter close to my heart. Therefore, I am very pleased to be part of the jury of BEAUTY FUTURES - The Douglas Innovation Pitch," says Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, Co-Founder and CEO at ada.
The winning idea in the "Beauty Brand" category will be given the unique opportunity to be included in the international assortment of Douglas shops and the online shop. The winning teams of the other two categories will be offered the opportunity to integrate their solution into the online shop, the stores, or the Douglas ecosystem after a review process.
"BEARS WITH BENEFITS" was among the winning ideas of the challenge from 2018. With the gummy bears containing an active ingredient complex with the beauty vitamin biotin that optimally supports skin, hair, nails as well as the entire immune system, the brand is still very successfully carried in the Douglas range today and is an absolute success story.
"The collaboration with Douglas and Tina Müller has taken our brand to a whole new level and given us the opportunity to reach millions of customers across Europe with our brand and our products. This has helped us to realise the full potential of the brand and we are still benefiting from the great collaboration today. Our bestseller AH-MAZING HAIR Biotin sugar-free, for example, is based on Tina Müller's inspiration," say Lena Hien and Laurence Saunier, founders of BEARS WITH BENEFITS.
Applicants should provide a short description of their idea and explain why it will be successful in the long term. They should also include a pitch deck with a summary of the business plan. Female and diverse teams are explicitly invited to apply.
After shortlisting by an internal jury, six candidates per category will be selected, who will then have to convince a full jury with a video entry. The three best teams (one per category) will then be awarded prizes by the jury at an award ceremony on 12 November.
Interested start-ups can apply at www.douglasbeautyfutures.com.
