PARIS — As part of its expansion strategy, Oh My Cream has acquired Naturisimo, the U.K.-based e-commerce site specializing in clean beauty.
The deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, was inked as Oh My Cream aims to become a leading clean beauty purveyor across Europe.
Naturisimo was founded in 2008 by Robert and Sophie Wills, who serve as its co-chief executive officers.
On May 19, Naturisimo’s website will redirect to ohmycream.co.uk. Visitors there will be able to tap into Oh My Cream’s lineup of brands, including Victoria Beckham Beauty, Herbivore Botanicals, Goop and Violet_FR, which Naturisimo does not currently stock. Also on offer will be Oh My Cream’s own brands, such as Oh My Cream Skincare, and ingestible brands Combeau and Atelier Nubio, which Oh My Cream recently acquired.
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Naturisimo carries brands such as Innersense, Evolve, Mádara, Dr. Hauschka and Wild Nutrition, which will be part of Oh My Cream’s offer in the U.K. Naturisimo’s social media accounts also will be switched.
“We plan on having the same level of service, loyalty program, free shipping, brand offering — because we have a lot of brands in common with Naturisimo,” said Juliette Lévy, founder and CEO of Oh My Cream. But some leading labels at Oh My Cream will be available, as well, including Augustinus Bader and Susanne Kaufmann.
“Naturisimo has always stood for clean, conscious beauty and a customer-first approach — values we believe are deeply aligned with Oh My Cream’s philosophy,” Robert and Sophie Wills said in a statement. “As we pass the baton, we’re proud of the community we’ve built and confident that our customer will continue to discover products they love in a thoughtfully curated, expert-led environment. We’re excited to see Naturisimo’s next chapter unfold as part of Oh My Cream’s journey.”
The acquisition is part of the retailer’s overarching strategy. “Geographical expansion, especially in the U.K., is our top priority,” Lévy said.
“Naturally, Naturisimo was a fantastic M&A opportunity for us because it’s an e-retailer, so [it] was a [great] way for us to accelerate as well online, alongside our presence in our stores,” said Alban Gerard, a partner at Experienced Capital — the fund with a 41 percent stake in Oh My Cream, and a stakeholder alongside Eutopia — who called it a synergetic acquisition. “We immediately seized the opportunity, because it was a fantastic way to reach a larger British audience, to also talk to more customers that are not necessarily targeted by our own stores right now.”
Naturisimo approached Gerard earlier this year thinking Oh My Cream might be interested in acquiring it. The retailer entered the U.K. in 2022. It has three London-based stores: in Notting Hill, Chelsea and Marylebone. Two more are expected by year-end.
Gerard underlined there’s still room to grow in France. There will, for instance, be some flagship openings soon. (Oh My Cream flagships tend to run 1,075 square feet to 1,290 square feet.) In May, two are to debut in Paris, in the 16th and 17th arrondissements.
“It can express itself in a different set of formats, including smaller ones,” said Gerard, speaking of those that go up to 540 square feet to 645 square feet maximum. “So that brings a lot of flexibility.”
Oh My Cream’s annual sales grew from about 10 million euros in 2019, when Experienced Capital acquired the stake in the retailer, to almost 40 million euros today, including the Combeau and Atelier Nubio businesses that were recently purchased.
“We thought we might start to investigate opportunistic M&A after 12 years of organic growth,” Lévy said. “That’s why we had a closer look at Naturisimo, because we shared the same positioning, target customer, and we thought it would be a very interesting asset deal for us.”
Oh My Cream already had an e-commerce structure set up for the U.K., as well.
Naturisimo today registers annual sales of a bit less than 5 million euros. With its acquisition, Oh My Cream’s international business will account for 15 percent of overall sales.
“It’s definitely becoming very key,” said Lévy, adding that acquiring a retailer abroad is a way to expand into other markets in the long term beside notching up organic growth. “Our ambition is to become a leader in alternative beauty [retailing] in Europe.”
Oh My Cream has 35 stores, five of which are abroad. Each offers treatments as well as products — it stocks about 100 brands. Brick-and-mortar represents 65 percent of company sales, while owned brands generated roughly 20 percent of the business.
Oh My Cream remains open to future M&A possibilities — especially in skin care and makeup — that would expand its portfolio and add muscle to its position in important European markets.
“We’re open, as long as it’s complementary to the brands that we currently have with Oh My Cream Skincare, Combeau and Atelier Nubio,” Lévy said. “We strongly believe in the wellness category, and we now have the perfect match between Atelier Nubio and Combeau to address all the different types of customers.”
Oh My Cream skin care, launched in 2017, is focused on a beauty routine’s essentials.
“It was the first brand to strictly focus on those — what we call internally — ‘essential gestures,’” said Lévy, who began the line with three products. The collection, currently with 20-plus references, has three major categories: double cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing, which she characterizes as the backbone of a good beauty routine, to resolve fundamental skin issues.
Oh My Cream Skincare is a more affordable alternative (25 euros to 50 euros) to the ultra-premium brands the retailer sells, allowing it to reach a broader audience.
“It was the beginning of a new phase for Oh My Cream as a retailer, because then we were finally able to talk to everybody,” Lévy said. Since its launch, Oh My Cream Skincare has ranked first in the stores. With Combeau and Atelier Nubio, it accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of overall sales.
Geographically, the focus remains on Europe in the short term. “There is no alternative beauty retailer to Sephora and Space NK,” Lévy said.
“There’s room for potential ultimately for Italy, Spain,” Gerard said. There, the consumer has an affinity to clean beauty and there might be some local actors to buy out, Lévy continued.
“But any market in Europe is very interesting for us,” she said.
“At the same time, we’re also very cautious on getting the steps in the right order,” said Gerard, who described Oh My Cream as a “beauty brand-builder.”
“We’re a very proud investor of backing such a talented team led by Juiette,” Gerard said. Lévy has mutual admiration for Gerard and Experienced Capital’s backing during both exciting and challenging periods.
“We have our alternative investment fund with Experienced Capital,” Lévy said. “The level of implication in matters that are both strategic, but also helping with the experts operationally on a day-to-day basis, side-by-side with our teams, is very key and quite unique on the market.”