Revealed: How LETOILE is using experience and curation to differentiate in the crowded Gulf beauty market

In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business, Volodin reveals how the company is filling a significant market gap while building on decades of customer trust.

Building on a legacy of trust

LETOILE’s success in the Gulf market didn’t materialise overnight. The company’s foundation dates back to 1997, bringing with it decades of industry relationships and customer loyalty. Today, the firm sells fine fragrances for locals and the vibrant GCC expat community.

“It was not created, to be honest, by me. It was created from 1997,” explains Volodin. “We have a huge experience and a lot of different and amazing relationships with our partners and customers all over the world.”

This established reputation proved invaluable when entering the Gulf market. According to Volodin, the strength of their customer events stems from this history: “This is not only just inviting people; this is about trust, about trust in us, and about trust in our company.”

Identifying market opportunities

While many retailers might view the regional beauty market as saturated, Volodin identified growth zones, particularly in fragrance diversity. This insight drove LETOILE’s expansion strategy.

“As far as I can see, and as far as I can see in different research in this market, I can see this is a massive fragrance market. A lot of people using more than 10 fragrances, especially local people, they like fragrances,” notes Volodin.

The CEO recognised an unfulfilled demand for global fragrance diversity: “When we came here, we saw that there is some gap in this category there where you cannot find, like, a lot of different, assortment that exist in the world. That’s why we came here.”

Global sourcing strategy

What sets LETOILE apart is its commitment to bringing premium skincare and fragrances from across the globe to Gulf consumers.

“We bring a lot of fragrances, a lot of perfumes that are now exclusive for us, in for this region,” Volodin explains. “We’re bringing from US, we’re bringing from Europe, we’re bringing from Russia, we’re bringing from, Australia and Korea, from all over the world. It was very big gap in this region.”

While fragrance remains LETOILE’s focus, the retailer has expanded its offering strategically. “Extra categories such as makeup, skin care, and hair care are also working as a complimentary part of our content,” adds Volodin.

Prioritising customer experience

In an era where experiential retail is increasingly crucial, LETOILE has positioned customer service as its competitive advantage.

“For us, service is number one, and our customer is number one for us. We are a very customer-oriented company, and we are working a lot for our customer,” emphasises Volodin.

This commitment manifests through regular educational initiatives: “We are doing trainings from international brands. Every week, a lot of different brands come to our stores. We’re doing the special trainings. We’re doing special events for our employees that’s working on the floor, that’s working with the customers.”

Volodin sees this focus on elevating the shopping experience as LETOILE’s key differentiator: “We ask the question what is our differential point from other competitors? For us, customer experience is very important, and we are working on it, trying to elevate it as much as we can.”

Curating an extensive collection

With over 5,000 fragrances, LETOILE’s selection process follows three strategic principles.

“First of all, of course, we’re very proud that we managed to get famous international brands like, Chanel, Lancôme, and Yves Saint Laurent, along with other brands that we have, from a luxury assortment in our portfolio and best-selling perfumes in Middle East,” states Volodin.

Beyond luxury staples, LETOILE tailors its offering to regional preferences: “We need to adapt our concept to something for a local market. And for local markets, of course, we created our niche category Arabic zone where you can find fine fragrance for Arabs and for people who are living here.”

The third selection criterion leverages LETOILE’s historical market knowledge: “We bring to our store brands that we know, that will work for this market, that working in our country that we established before because we know the performance of these brands.”