Maison Louis Marie (20:00) was founded in 2012 and has never taken on investment, which, according to the married couple behind the brand, Marie du Petit Thouars and Matthew Berkson, has allowed it to focus on slow and steady growth. It is profitable and does not spend excessively on influencer marketing.
"We want to be careful with the brand. We really want to create a legacy brand," Berkson said.
In 13 years, Maison Louis Marie has grown to sell eau de parfums, perfume oils, candles, diffusers, body wash, lotion and deodorant, among other products. It entered Sephora in 2017. A little over six months ago, it opened its first dedicated retail space, at Platform, an open-air shopping center in Los Angeles's Culver City.
According to the founders, Maison Louis Marie's community members love the space and the chance to shop the brand's full collection — a smaller selection of products is carried at Sephora.
"People want to smell [things IRL] — yet what each store can carry is so limited, as there are so many brands," said du Petit Thouars. "[At our store] the customer is so excited to [discover] all the things we offer that they're not aware of and to be able to touch, smell and look," said du Petit Thouars.
In this week’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, Sara Spruch-Feiner speaks with Berkson and du Petit Thouars about how Maison Louis Marie is meeting the current moment of fragrance mania, how it's working to attract a younger audience with its soon-to-launch hair and body mists, and what drove its first-ever celebrity endorsement.
But first, co-hosts Sara Spruch-Feiner and Lexy Lebsack chat about the different ways customers discover new products nowadays, including ChatGPT's updated shopping capabilities, Wirecutter's new beauty vertical and Ulta Beauty's program transforming its salespeople into content creators.
