Mission Statement

Our customers’ satisfaction is our primary goal. In both our brick-and-mortar stores and our online shops, we create a shopping environment to appeal to our customers’ senses. We are committed to providing the best advice and service to fulfill our customers’ expectations, gain their trust, and make their lives more pleasant—day in and day out, at each location, in every country, via cell phones, and on the Internet. Each and every day, we endeavor to provide outstanding service, top quality products, and a stimulating shopping environment in all areas of our company. Our employees are among the best in the specialty retail sector. Their friendliness, enthusiasm, commitment, and willingness to learn, combined with their mutual respect for each other, are the foundation on which we build.

The DOUGLAS Group represents “Excellence in Retailing”—with outstanding service, top quality products, an experiential store ambiance, and the friendliest employees in the business.

DOUGLAS Group management is decentralized because we deliberately rely on the strength of our local decision makers. By encouraging and challenging local entrepreneurs, we have become a leading European retailer. Our five retail divisions—Douglas perfumeries, Thalia bookstores, Christ jewelry stores, AppelrathCüpper fashion stores, and Hussel confectioneries—with both their brick-and-mortar and virtual stores—are among the market leaders and trendsetters in their respective sectors.

As a forward-looking, listed company with a tradition of family ownership, we are equally committed to our shareholders, employees, customers, and business partners as well as our environment. Therefore, we foster a corporate culture where everyone is treated as a partner. This culture is reflected in our philosophy of “Excellence in Retailing,” a principle that will remain fundamental to our values so that the DOUGLAS Group will continue its profitable journey into the future.