Ringana expands beyond Europe

Ecommerce, direct sales and referral marketing: this is the hybrid business model of Ringana, an Austrian cosmetics company founded in 1996 that is investing heavily in very innovative and sustainable organic solutions using only vegan and fresh components without preservatives and artificial flavourings, from a short and controlled supply chain, as its founder and CEO Andreas Wilfinger explains.

"A traditional distribution system with long storage times would not be suitable for our products,' says the CEO. 'In 29 years we have come a long way, growing by 30 per cent with a turnover of 228 million euro last year and 700 employees worldwide. We are also expanding in non-European markets such as Mexico, but we will also open in Turkey and Colombia'.

Europe remains the main area with Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and France as the main players. 'Italy is a very important market for us,' the CEO continues, 'with strong sales growth in recent months. Consumers really appreciate the effectiveness and quality of our products'.

The company's focus is on having a sustainable supply chain based on 527 raw materials, 331 packaging elements, 243 printed products and 36 merchandising items. The company selects suppliers based on ecological and social factors as well as economic parameters. A key tool is the supplier survey, in which information on product and company certifications on ecological, social and quality standards, among other aspects, is collected.

With the exception of raw materials, Europe is considered the priority sourcing area. This is because innovative and highly effective plant ingredients are used for the products, whose supply chain is global and very complex. High-end raw materials with high concentrations of active ingredients and ingredients with strong antioxidant action are sought after. The processing of these raw materials must take place quickly to ensure freshness. For sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging and wrapping, the focus is on Gots certifications, Pcr in the plastic and glass sector and Cradle to Cradle in the printed materials sector.