Introduction: As Rituals celebrates its 24th anniversary, the brand’s journey from a single Amsterdam store to a global wellness and lifestyle empire is a testament to the perseverance, innovation and deep-rooted commitment of its people.
In this candid interview, Rituals CEO Raymond Cloosterman reflects on the remarkable growth that has brought the company to the verge of reaching €2 billion in revenue following two decades of product innovation and the cultivation of a luxury niche in the wellbeing space. Travel retail has been a key driver for that growth “since day one”.
For Cloosterman, growth is only part of the story. “Success comes with responsibility,” he says, referring to the company’s recently announced Profit Pledge, an initiative that directs 10% of net profits towards impactful causes. Rituals achieved B Corp certification several years ago, and now, with projects focused on mental wellbeing and reforestation, it seeks to make a positive impact on both people and the planet.
From planting trees in India and Colombia to creating the Super Chill App aimed at reducing social media anxiety in young children, the company is aligning its success with broader social and environmental goals.
As Rituals looks ahead, Cloosterman is laser-focused on three key areas: sustainability, innovation in wellbeing services, and bridging the generational divide with its Art of Soulful Living philosophy. With these goals in mind, Rituals and Cloosterman are poised to take the next step into the future, continuing its mission to create positive change, one meaningful ritual at a time.
Rituals will soon be celebrating its 25th anniversary. How does it feel reaching that milestone, and what have been the biggest learnings along the way?
It’s been 25 years, but it feels like yesterday. I can still remember our opening day for our first store in Amsterdam, panicking because no customer entered our store, working all night to make it ready and then that happened. Today, we’re sitting here and we’re opening stores every day and growing very fast. In fact, we’re hoping to hit the €2 billion sales target this year.
It’s been an amazing journey that underlines the passion and perseverance of the team because the first eight to ten years were not that easy.
Why? Because we were a bit too early with our philosophy. We were a bit too early with our omnichannel approach. However, we reaped the benefits later on as we started to get traction and now the brand is on fire.
In a sense, we’ve been able to create our own niche where we offer pure luxury but at an accessible price, which has been a pillar since day one. This is more relevant than ever with Gen Z coming up with high demands and slightly smaller budgets.
I’m as happy now as I was in year three or four, when we didn’t have all the success and the results. This is because I work with people I love; people who are creative, optimistic and share my dream. That’s what we’ve been doing since day one and still doing today.
Tell us about the Rituals Profit Pledge and how this underlines your mission to balance profit and purpose.
Well, we are now 24 years young and have been successful for the last ten. For me, success comes with responsibility.
As you get a little bit older, and when your company is successful and profitable, you start thinking, what more can we do?
We became B Corp certified a couple of years ago which is all about sustainability and reducing our negative impact. But we wanted to take it a step further and asked ourselves how we can use our company as a force for good.
In that spirit we thought that instead of limiting our negative impact, how can we also use the success of a company to create some positive impact?
And that’s how the Profit Pledge came to be. Through this we can see whether we could fulfil our dream to become an impact brand. We wanted to combine looking after our customers with luxury products and taking the responsibility to make the world a better place.
UNICEF released a report that said an estimated one in seven children and adolescents aged 10 to 19 are affected by mental health conditions, with anxiety, depression and behavioural disorders among the most common.
As Rituals, we looked in the mirror and said, well, our whole concept is about enjoying the little things in life, but at the same time our planet is falling apart. Can we do something else? And that’s where it started.
We looked at Patagonia, which pledged 1% of its turnover to positive causes, and I thought let’s do 10% of our net profit. Why? Because to me this is entrepreneurship for the 21st century. Because while we are still focused on growth and bottom-line results, we also want to look after people and planet. We are privileged that we have the opportunity to do so.
A comprehensive reforestation project and the Super Chill app are two of the stand-out initiatives born from the Profit Pledge. Can you tell us more about these?
That’s two different kinds of sustainability. In the past ten years, we have been supporting lots of NGOs, but now we’re stepping up in terms of our commitment. That total commitment is around €3-4 million to reinvest in things that matter if we continue to do as well as we’re doing now.
When you start thinking about it in-depth, you realise that you need scope and to focus on projects that matter. We decided to be proactive in terms of scope and to stay close to our brand ethos. This is why we have focused on following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), centred around mental wellbeing and reforestation.
We’ve purchased big plots of rainforests and given them to the indigenous tribes in the area, making sure no commercial or corporate entities can touch them.
We also wanted to help protect young kids from the anxieties brought on by today’s society, which is why we created the Super Chill App. This is a free app that parents and teachers can use to help children become more resilient to the dangers of social media.
How do you measure the success of these initiatives?
That’s not so easy to be honest. What we try to do is align them with the UN SDGs. As long as we make sure that we are supporting those, then we can’t be far off.
I personally went to a few reforestation projects myself. I’ve been planting trees in India, planting Mangrove trees that protect little villages, while a colleague of mine was in Colombia. By being there and talking to the people, I can see how our investments are being used and how much is ending up at the right place.
What was that experience like?
It was a very powerful experience. It was an eye opener to see how many really motivated and inspiring people are out there trying to help.
I met this guy in India who said goodbye to a very good job to help plant millions of trees, to protect villages against the monsoons and to plant mangroves which absorb three times the amount of CO2. He was so obsessed and passionate, and when you meet people like that you understand there is still a lot of hope for the planet.
I was in India with the mayor talking to the villages on a little wobbly stage, teaching them about protecting their natural surroundings and helping them understand that one tree is one life. This isn’t easy because when they’re hungry and they need to cook, they cut all the trees. That’s the kind of mentality change which has to take place. There was also a lot of plastic everywhere. It’s a lot to do and we have to make the first little steps.
We talk a lot about purpose, but let’s go back to profit which, for Rituals, has been very positive in recent years, reaching €1 billion in revenues not too long ago and getting closer to your new goal of €2 billion.
The company is on a roll. It took us 20 years to grow from zero to €1 billion. And in a further three years we are nearing the €2 billion mark. That’s thanks to a combination of opening standalone stores, everyday, somewhere in the world, and airports and luxury department stores.
However, the most important driver is innovation programme. We’re bringing 200 new products every year, which is a fourth of our total offer. We need to surprise. We need to be relevant. So, we’re introducing more luxury lines, new categories and limited editions, which are a big growth driver as well.
We’re still growing fast in France, Germany and Italy, and our Eastern Europe business is on fire. However, Rituals is still a European company. We expanded to Asia last year and I see China and Southeast Asia as big growth markets. We opened a store in Hainan, which is doing well, but we now also have 25 standalone stores in the region and are opening another 20 or 30 next year.
In Asia we’re learning what’s important for the region and how to grow the brand, but the initial reactions are very good.
Our Asian customers first need to understand the product, learn about the luxury quality of the fragrances and the formulas, and combine that with our more accessible price. That’s new in the region because they are only exposed to the higher price points.
And in that success, what role does travel retail play?
Travel retail, for us, is the ultimate advertising platform. The brand-building opportunities the channel offers is part of the overall experience. In the mature markets we’re in, we’ve been very successful at airports.
We’re one of the top players in the airport environment because we bring complementary categories and complementary price points so we can service everybody whether it’s a refill or a nice gift. Also, we are a great brand for Millennials and Gen Z who have slightly less to spend. When people are travelling, they’re open to new things.
Being discovered in airports, airlines and cruises is a key moment for us. This is why travel retail has been one of our key channels since day one.
The House of Rituals is an impressive multi-storey and experiential flagship which evocatively brings the Art of Soulful Living ethos to life. How are you bringing this kind of experience into travel retail?
That’s a good question. On one hand, there’s this fight for profitability per square millimetre. On the other hand, there is a need to give people experiences and that’s a paradox.
I think that’s where airports and airport operators should work hand-in-hand because we can tailor to both needs.
You’ve been to House of Rituals, yes? That is our own department store of almost 2,000sq m. It was also recently recognised as the second-coolest store in the global list of the world’s 50 Coolest Retailers 2024 by The General Store in a report generated for The World Retail Congress.
What makes it so cool is the combination of products and experiences. You have the Body Spa for the usual massages, but the Mind Spa and Mind Oasis are both truly innovative – customers can get brain massages and hydro-jet massages.
It’s really new and for us that’s the next stage in terms of brand positioning.
What are your biggest priorities leading up to your 25th anniversary?
Our priority for the next ten years is to keep going on this incredible journey. Our ambition is to take the company to the next level. We want to leverage our wellbeing positioning. We are a mindfulness brand as well as a gift brand and a beauty brand and everything else.
From mindfulness, we want to move on to wellbeing and that’s our aim. When we set that goal, new doors opened. In addition to product innovations, we now have The Book of Rituals, ‘The bible of wellbeing’.
So, we worked on content but also on services. The Brain Massage and the Mind Oasis are part of that new positioning. It’s an experience and a service on top of the products, and for me, that is the future.
Now we’re exploring how we can take that a step further. Can you imagine that kind of concept at airports? We just want to pamper our customers and if we can work together with the Trinity to make that happen, that would be truly incredible.
But this is early days and we’re entrepreneurs. We’re constantly trying to push ourselves out of the comfort zone.
The House of Rituals is one big initiative. The Profit Pledge and trying to become a luxury wellbeing company, but at the same time an impact company, that’s the next big challenge.
Another challenge we’re facing is that we’re going from Boomers to Zoomers. How can we make sure that we bring Gen Z customers onboard while still catering to our loyal fans?
For example, we launched Ritual of Yozakura this summer, a line targeted at younger consumers, and our sales exceeded expectations that month. That is just by adopting a new approach in terms of packaging, fragrance and a campaign. In fact, we are seeing a lot of young customers try the Mind Oasis and keep coming back. So, it’s especially appealing to the younger generation.
Those are the three areas we are focusing on: sustainability, wellbeing services and innovations, and recruiting new customers while still meeting the needs of existing ones. ✈