Rituals closes American stores, focuses on online

Dutch retailer Rituals is going to close some of its stores in the United States and focus more on online, because Americans are “more digital-minded”.

Different market, different habits

European and American consumers are very different, according to CEO Raymond Cloosterman: US consumers are much more digitally inclined, he told RetailTrends. His chain will therefore focus on e-commerce in the United States, including collaborations with new online partners.

As a result, several US stores will have to close – although it is as of yet unknown how many exactly. The remaining stores will have to be satisfied with a supporting role and a smaller product range. “We want to show that we can even build great stores with half of the current number of SKUs. In a country that does not yet know us that well, we can make excellent progress in the next few years”, Cloosterman said.

Rituals has been active in the United States since 2018, and opened 22 stores in the process – a number that will be reduced in the next few months. The Dutch cosmetics chain has a presence in 35 countries all over the world.