Rituals open two more stores in São Paulo

Founded in 2000, the Dutch brand of cosmetics Rituals came three years ago in Brazil-your first market outside Europe. From then on, only three stores were opened in São Paulo. The expansion was slower than planned by the company, which now intends to accelerate the pace.
Will open two units in São Paulo this month and an e-commerce operation in November. "We've done slowly, so as not to frustrate our chance of success in the Brazilian market, and now we want to gradually increase our number of stores," says the founder of Rituals, Raymond Cloosterman.
For the Dutch businessman, the Brazil is the cosmetic market harder to enter the world. "The operation was very difficult for us. To be honest, I was hoping that we could grow faster, but the complexity of the market, the import taxes and the measures the Government takes to impede the entry of other companies in the country makes the expansion in the country much harder to predict, "said Cloosterman, a former Unilever, for 50 years.
Over the next three years, the plan is to invest $ 30 million in expansion in Brazil. Cloosterman see potential to have 200 stores in all regions of the country. He says that this number may be achieved in five to ten years, "depending on the market". The new spots will open this month in malls Iguatemi and Market Place. Other units are on rua Oscar Freire and in malls Vila Olimpia and Bourbon, all in São Paulo.
With 350 stores in the European market, the brand has a turnover of around € 320 million and has been registering over the past few years a growth rate of 30%. According to the businessman, the Rituals should grow 50% this year and usher in 90 units in 2015.
Cloosterman's ambition is to create a global brand, with presence in different continents. This year, the company gave its second intercontinental step, with the opening of stores in New York and early sales in American Department store Barneys. The company is present in 18 countries and plans to get to Australia, France and Switzerland in 2015.
The Rituals has about 400 products such as liquid soaps, creams, make-up items, scented candles, oils, cosmetics for men and flavours of environment. The products are inspired by ancient rituals of Eastern countries.
Second Cloosterman, your portfolio has the same quality of luxury brands, but with lower prices. "We can only do that because virtually no advertising and we have lower margins than our competitors of prestigious brands, such as L'occitane", says the Executive. A bottle of 200 ml bath foam brand costs $ 42. The price of a 200 ml body moisturizer is $ 94 and a aromatizer 230 ml environment leaves for $ 132. The entire portfolio is imported.
In Brazil, the flavours of the brand began to be sold this month in mobile network and Tok Stok & decoration. Cosmetics can also be found on the Group's multi-brand network Apothecary, The Beauty Box. In Europe, the Rituals is present in about 1 thousand department stores.