Skins announces expansion to Germany, opens third store in Belgium

On Wednesday, Dutch beauty retailer Skins will open its third Belgian store in Brussels, following stores in Antwerp and Ghent. The chain is also eyeing Germany (with a first store to open in Hamburg later this year) and France.

Beauty shows no signs of shrinking

The formula, which focuses on luxury brands such as Aesop, Acqua Di Parma, and Marie-Stella-Maris, is growing rapidly. Revenue for this year already amounts to 53 million euros, a third more than in the same period last year, Commercial Director Eefje Luuring told Belgian newspaper De Tijd. More than half of the revenue comes from perfume, while e-commerce accounts for over a quarter of the sales figure.

That growth partially comes from expansion, which is only set to increase: the chain will opens its third Belgian store on Wednesday, in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe (Brussels). Later this year, two more Dutch stores will also follow (in Leiden and Utrecht). More importantly, the chain has set its sights on the huge German market with its first German store in Hamburg, which should be the first of seventy stores to open in the next ten years. Skins currently has 24 stores in three countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and South Africa.

At the beginning of this year, Belgian investment group Vendis acquired a majority stake in the Dutch brand, which now enables rapid expansion – France is now also on the chain’s radar. The global beauty industry continues to grow, with an expected increase of 5 % annually until 2030 – despite the struggling luxury market.