Douglas, Europe’s leading beauty retailer, now offers a unique service that provides guidance on fragrances through Amazon’s voice-activated system known as Alexa.

By saying the sentence “Alexa, open Douglas”, customers in Germany can access the Douglas Skill via their Echo speaker. Alexa asks the user five questions. Based on the answers provided by the user, Alexa then makes a personal fragrance recommendation. If desired, Alexa will email the results to the user. Customers then have the option to try the recommended fragrance in a store or order it directly via a link at douglas.de.

“Personal consultation has always been a key Douglas strength – both in stores and on the online shop. With the Douglas Skill for Alexa, we are now bringing our expertise in providing advice right into our customers’ homes,” says Douglas CEO Tina Müller. “In taking this step, we have once again underscored our aim as the European beauty industry’s omnichannel champion to continuously enhance and advance the shopping experience for our customers.”

Through its fragrance guidance service, Douglas has added an entirely new function to the voice-activated system Alexa: the Douglas Skill is the first app in Germany that provides customers with personalized advice on product selection. The recommendation is based on five factors: gender, note (oriental, woody, fruity, fresh), impact (exquisite, soft, romantic), occasion (to be worn during the day or the evening) and product type (exclusive product, lifestyle product, classic product). When making the recommendation, Alexa chooses from a range that currently consists of some 500 fragrances. In the months ahead, Douglas aims to further expand the range of products and its service through Alexa.