What was the place of your lockdown?

Rue Bachaumont in Paris, with my daughter for half the time. Some friends had proposed me to join them in the South of France in a country house, but I could not abandon the teams who were physically there.

How did the lockdown start?

At first, several bad news quickly followed each other: the sudden closing of the store, the end of payments, part-time working, etc. At the same time, some good friends got sick of covid-19 and the government announced the closing of the schools. Reactivity has been crucial to overcome all the challenges, but also to reassure teams and customers.

What decisions are you most proud of?

On March 16, when the store closed, we set up free delivery in 2 hours throughout Greater Paris with Deliveree. Given the delays and tracking problems with La Poste, we also proposed free DHL express delivery from € 80, everywhere in France.
This, by adapting our communication since the beginning of the lockdown. Although our editorial line was already prepared, we could not communicate as if nothing had changed. At our scale, we tried to help our customers get through this crisis by recommending products that may be aligned with the context: the Hand Spray Sanitizing by Susanne Kaufmann to disinfect the hands, the Hand Peel and the Primrose Evening to exfoliate and hydrate hands when they are damaged by daily washing, or the Home Spa Box to reserve a comfort moment for ourselves.
Finally, the renovation of our shop and the set-up of a new multi-brand space that we'll unveil in the next months.

What are the positive lessons learnt from this confinement?

First, the courage of our teams who have never failed in their responsibilities and who, despite the apocalyptic atmosphere on the streets, have always been present: I will never forget their loyalty and working alongside them also allowed to know them better on a personal level.
I also thank our customers, who have answered the call. Online orders saw surprising growth during this period and many are those who have called and wrote for encouraging us. At the same time, the number of orders put a strain on our organizational capacity: we had to be resilient and hard-working, with reduced staff.
I also thank the French hospital staff, to whom I address my strongest gratitude. In order to offer them some olfactory happiness, we sent the caregivers of the Ambroise Paré Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine the kits with our olfactory recommendations.
I would also like to thank all of our brands, who responded to the challenges demanded by the new context with great reactivity and strength, but also all of our partners, including DHL.
This period also allowed me to recognize that the simplest things in life like seeing friends or wandering around in a park were the best ones. Weekly calls with my family in Canada and with my friends have become even more regular; even though I have only watched two films during the confinement, I’m reading my fourth book on personal development!
Finally, sport. I forced myself to run four times a week (40 to 50 km), I've never been so in shape!

During the lockdown, Nose has organized 16 LIVEs on its Instagram account. What were the lessons?

I am very grateful to the many people who have played the game: Antoine Lie, Julia Johansen, Susanne Kaufmann, David Mallett, Naomi Greene, Filippo Sorcinelli, Frédéric Malle, Richard Haines, David Bellemere, Mai Hua, Balboste Paris, Bjorn Orvar, Clara Molloy, Daria Reina, Jérome and Laurent Pierart, and Sissel Tolaas.
We decided to propose these LIVEs because of the historic moment we were going through, to give courage and inspiration from the multiple cities that these artists, researchers or perfumers had chosen for their confinement (Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Reykjavik, Rimini, Rome, Bezau, …).
An opportunity to take a step back from life and our job and say "what will I remember from this period and what are the lessons?" "
Among the topics, we can recall slow perfumery, a do-it-yourself to cut your hair, a visit to the Susanne Kaufmann SPA, a walk in Rome at Dede's, workshop visits,… These discussions sometimes reinforced our personal convictions, such as the “intelligent sourcing” of olfactory raw materials (check our IGTV channel on our Instagram account if you’ve missed that one!).

The lockdown is over: how did you prepare for the restart?

The end of lockdown was very difficult to organize, because the government announced the measures quite late. We have deployed a 30-page security protocol which is already at its third version!
Exposing the smell and touch to products in this very special period has its risk, so we have implemented several measures at the store: external security barriers to manage the entry and exit flows, clear signs (we have targeted Charles de Gaules standards!), mandatory mask and hydro-alcoholic gel at the entrance for customers, social distance of 1 meter, masks and visors to be worn by each advisor, plexiglass at the bar for olfactory diagnostics and at the cash desk. In short, our team takes care of everything!
The store is currently open Tuesday to Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is also possible to make an express purchase outside the store with CC (which prevents customers from entering the store unnecessarily) or to order online and collect the order at the store, without contact.

What was the customers’ reaction to these measures?

It was a very nice surprise to see so many customers on May 12.
The teams quickly applieed the maximum of common sense and rigor in applying such measures. At the same time, our customers were particularly respectful and committed by providing us with their advices and recommending Nose to other customers. We have thus developed an international community of passionate people who are sensitive to the avant-garde of fragrance and beauty.
We sometimes hear our customers referring to a "Nose fragrance" instead of mentioning the brand. This has also been confirmed by the founder of Skins Cosmetics, a very respectable multi-brand store in the Netherlands, regarding their customers' feedbacks.

What are the next post-containment projects and challenges?

Most of our brands have continued to deliver without problems. For those rare brands whose products have been out of stock, we made our best efforts to be the first ones to be delivered. Facing the current contraints, we need to keep innovating to serve our customers better and better. We plan in the coming weeks to launch a chatbot to both manage sales advice and customer service requests.
Regarding events, we will also have to innovate in this regard and are thinking about new formats for September.
After what we’ve learned from our LIVEs, we also plan to integrate new brands with a strong environmental commitment. I am glad to announce in preview the launch of Kinfill, a brand proposing naturally scented home cleaning solutions which are 100% rechargeable, a real discovery!