From a shop in the centre of the capital to a network of five sale points throughout the middle and south of the country, Karine Eisenbarth has been cultivating the presence of the Yves Rocher brand in Luxembourg since the early 2000s.
Our strength is that we have two activities in one.
“Our strength is that we have two activities in one: we have the institute and the shop, so we can really look after a customer from start to finish,” she says. In fact, each of these segments contributes about half of the franchise’s turnover. Although activity in the institute is now close to pre-crisis levels, shop traffic is down by around 20%.
“The average ticket is the same throughout the Benelux, but we have a more pronounced in-store traffic experience in Luxembourg than in Belgium. The offer is similar as in other countries, where the brand is present with a mix of relaxation treatments and beauty services.
“I have always liked the philosophy of the brand”
The Yves Rocher franchise-owner is attached to the group’s Belgian branch and to its catalogue. The legal aspects of the location are relevant, for example, in how France permits the sale of drinkable slimming products and vegetal capsules while Luxembourg doesn’t.
For the rest, no change is apparent in the offering of the group, founded in 1959 in Brittany. “I have always liked the philosophy of the brand. Cosmetics is a very special world, but I have never been attracted to any other brand than the Yves Rocher family business,” explains Eisenbarth.
She has no plans to expand her shops, which are located in the Auchan Kirchberg shopping centre, the Belle Étoile, the urban areas of Luxembourg-Gare, the Ville Haute and the centre of Esch-sur-Alzette. They employ around 50 people. In parallel, Yves Rocher has three integrated shops located in Differdange, Pommerloch and Schmiede.
Innovation and sustainability
The entrepreneur began her career in 1995 in the group’s laboratory, located at the time in Echternach. But after the relocation of this structure to Brittany, giving way to the Cosmolux company’s arrival to the site next to Germany, she was offered the chance to take over management of the Yves Rocher shop located in the centre of the capital.
As opportunities arose, the franchise-owner’s network expanded while the brand itself evolved: mail order gave way to e-commerce, and the eco-responsibility dimension became more pronounced. Eisenbarth is convinced that “it is possible to combine economic development with attention to the environment and ecology.” The disappearance of plastic bags, an entrepreneurial charter for the environment, and the development of sustainable recipes all attest to this.
In 2020, the Rocher group—which oversees the Yves Rocher brands, but also nine other brands including Petit Bateau, Dr Pierre Ricaud and Daniel Jouvance—achieved a turnover of €2.6bn, 81% of which was generated through cosmetics.
This story in French on Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.