MILAN — Douglas has amped up its presence in Italy after it opened a new store on one of Milan’s busiest shopping streets.
The two-level, 3,767-square-foot store is located on Corso Buenos Aires and was inaugurated in November. It is part of a plan by the German perfumery chain to expand its brand in Italy. In addition to the new perfumery in Milan, work is being finished on a 2,690-square-foot downtown Turin location.
Jorg Mingers, general manager for Douglas in southwestern Europe, said the company would open 18 new perfumeries in Italy over the next year, adding to the chain of 115 perfumeries the company has established here.
“We’ve worked on the Milan location for eight years, so it’s fantastic to see it open now. The street where it’s located prominently shows off the brand,” said Mingers.
Considered by Douglas as an Italian “milestone” for the company, the new perfumery has been designed with added extras.
For the first time, the perfumery has created a fragrance bar to be managed by a nose who will help customers mix a signature scent that would be packaged in a specially made flacon.
“Customers are interested in that process. It’s a good tool to educate and connect with them,” said Mingers.
Mingers said the fragrance bar would be tested before it became a permanent store fixture.
“The space will be used as a marketing tool to communicate with customers. Today it might be the fragrance bar, tomorrow it may be allocated to a supplier who may want to use it. It could rotate,” said Mingers.
An enclosed 215-square-foot space in the center of the perfumery has been allocated to Giorgio Armani’s cosmetics, the only retailer to carry the brand in Milan outside of department store La Rinascente and the Armani megastore. Shelves of the new Douglas also house brands Marc Jacobs, Kenneth Cole, Viktor & Rolf, Acqua di Parma, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jean Patou and Costume National.
Downstairs there’s a nail bar and a hair station, so the retailer can show new products and give its customers mini-treatments.
According to Mingers, the new Milan location has surpassed its expected sales results for the first month and is expected to help propel Douglas Italy’s 2007 turnover to 185 million euros, or $243.5 million at current exchange, up 12 percent from the 2006 figure of 161 million euros, or $211.9 million.