How Smollan helped bring L’Oréal’s refill strategy to life through retail execution.
As consumers become increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, brands are rethinking how products are designed, purchased and reused. Refillable products are playing an important role in this shift, helping reduce waste while supporting more sustainable shopping habits.
However, introducing a refill strategy requires more than product innovation. Success depends on creating an in-store experience that makes refillable products visible, easy to understand and simple for shoppers to adopt.
Working alongside L’Oréal in Benelux, Smollan helped translate this sustainability ambition into an engaging retail experience, demonstrating how effective merchandising and retail execution can support both environmental goals and commercial success.
Turning a sustainability ambition into an in-store reality
As part of its global L’Oréal for the Future programme, L’Oréal is committed to reducing its environmental footprint while empowering consumers to make more sustainable choices.
To support this ambition, L’Oréal Benelux partnered with Smollan with a clear objective: bring its refill strategy to life on the shop floor by making refillable products more visible, easier to understand and more attractive to shoppers.
While L’Oréal defined the refill strategy, Smollan worked alongside the team to translate that vision into a consistent in-store experience through merchandising excellence and retail execution.
A refill revolution
The move towards refillable beauty products represents more than a packaging change, it encourages shoppers to adopt new purchasing habits.
Although many consumers want to shop more sustainably, changing established behaviours can be challenging. Refillable products need to be clearly presented, easy to understand and convenient to purchase before they become part of everyday shopping.
By creating engaging retail experiences, brands can help remove these barriers and encourage shoppers to make more sustainable choices with confidence.
A partnership built on collaboration
Having worked together successfully on merchandising activities, L’Oréal recognised Smollan’s ability to consistently deliver high-quality execution across the retail environment.
As the refill initiative developed, Smollan became more than an execution partner. Working closely with L’Oréal, the teams collaborated throughout the project, sharing ideas and identifying practical ways to strengthen the shopper experience while remaining true to the overall sustainability strategy.
This collaborative approach ensured every aspect of the activation supported L’Oréal’s ambition to make refillable beauty products more accessible and appealing to consumers.
Bringing the refill strategy to life
Working closely with L’Oréal and retail partners, Smollan transformed the refill strategy into a practical in-store experience that helped shoppers easily discover and understand refillable products.
The project included reusable in-store displays positioned in prominent locations to maximise visibility while reducing waste. Clear visual communication helped explain the benefits of refill products and encouraged shoppers to consider more sustainable purchasing habits.
Recognising that store colleagues also play an important role in influencing purchasing decisions, Smollan ensured retail teams were equipped with the knowledge and information they needed to confidently answer shopper questions and explain how refillable products work.
Alongside the physical activation, Smollan also measured the CO₂ impact of the logistics execution, providing valuable insight into the environmental impact of the project and supporting L’Oréal’s wider sustainability objectives.
Helping shoppers embrace more sustainable choices
Consumers increasingly want to make purchasing decisions that align with their environmental values, but convenience remains one of the biggest drivers of behaviour.
By making refillable products highly visible, easy to understand and supported by knowledgeable store teams, the partnership helped reduce barriers to adoption and created a shopping experience that made sustainable choices feel straightforward and accessible.
The project demonstrates how thoughtful merchandising and consistent retail execution can help bridge the gap between sustainability strategy and shopper behaviour.
Delivering sustainable retail outcomes
The collaboration between Smollan and L’Oréal in Benelux demonstrates that sustainability and commercial success can go hand in hand.
By combining a clear sustainability vision with engaging retail execution, the partnership created an experience that benefited shoppers, supported L’Oréal’s environmental ambitions and strengthened the visibility of refillable beauty products in-store.
The project also highlights the value of close collaboration between brand and retail execution teams. Together, the partnership delivered:
- Increased visibility of refillable products through reusable in-store displays.
- Better-informed store teams, enabling confident conversations with shoppers.
- Measurement of the CO₂ impact of logistics execution to support sustainability reporting.
- An engaging retail experience that helped make refillable beauty products easier to discover and adopt.
As more brands explore circular economy initiatives and refillable product ranges, creating simple, engaging and well-executed shopper experiences will remain essential to helping sustainable innovations succeed in-store.
“More and more clients are making the shift towards sustainable solutions on the shop floor. It’s fantastic to create impact together with such great brands.” – Laura Coens, Senior Project Manager, Smollan in Benelux
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