Doucé, a Franco-Chinese brand to conquer the kids space in China, France and elsewhere

We met the founder of Doucé, Natacha Tarascon at Cosmoprof Asia last November. Originally from Montpellier, Natacha worked for Pierre Fabre, Bioderma and Nuxe, in Latin America, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in the last nine years where she founded Doucéa. The brand is available in France, China and in export markets.

Made for kids

Doucéa was created: to combine effective, high-quality natural formulas, to reassure parents, with fun, practical and ecological packaging for children. 

Her daughter was prone to atopic skin, but was reluctant to apply pharmacy products, which had austere and medical-like packaging. However she applied the treatment diligently when it was transferred into a fun and joyful pack (without her knowledge). This is when Tarascon noticed that there are few treatments with an “elegant and attractive look”. “ I was asked to teach a course on eco-socio design. This fairly new theme really interested me: it involves integrating societal issues into the product development strategy. We seek to find the most ecological and social way to launch a brand, or to develop it as much as possible in this direction.” explains Tarascon.

She then observed the behaviours of her own three children to understand how they were interacting with packaging and how she should develop the beautycare line.

Eco-design range

Eco-socio-design is applied at each stage of the brand development. Looking after the environment and ensuring a positive impact. For sourcing they look for the most natural ingredients possible with full traceability. In production, they use a cold process to ensure optimal results of ingredients and reduced energy consumption. In terms of packaging the brand uses recycled, recyclable and/or biodegradable materials. The products are made with pumps delivering the right amount of cream and avoiding waste. The beauty line comes in refillable products, which avoids throwing away a considerable quantity of bottles of shampoo, cleansing water, or pots of cream each month.

Doucéa develops dermatological formulations that are minimalist, meaning that they are only composed of strictly necessary ingredients. The care range is made with a neat and attractive design which allow children to learn about them and interact with them more easily and use them with pleasure, they gradually become independent and learn on their own.

China Versus France requirements

In France, they chose to develop minimalist formulas while avoiding all controversial ingredients and preservatives, so we are part of “clean beauty”. They have formulas reaching 99.8% ingredients of natural origin.

In China, they have the Chinese EWG label, which is a similar system to Yuka, a mobile application which allows us to analyse the compositions of food and cosmetic products as well as their impact on the health. As their packaging offers an “airless” pump system, which limits bacterial contamination, they use fewer preservatives. All products are hypoallergenic and clinically tested. They are obviously not tested on animals.

The range was also developed under paediatricians approval with a restricted list of ingredients to conform with Chinese regulations.

Market presence

In China, Doucéa is an unknown brand, its launch is a rather subtle challenge which consists of finding the right balance between online and offline content. The brand development is based on Tarascon pharmaceutical training, accompanied by all her qualifications and professional experience in the field: an undeniable asset to reassure parents and/or new users. Online side, they want to be able to show that Doucéa is a reliable and safe brand for children by using social networks, which allow parents to discuss their experiences and the results of our products. It is also an opportunity to highlight the trust of recognized figures (such as pediatricians) who recommend our products.

In Brick and Mortar, they want to give children the opportunity, guided by their parents according to their needs, to be able to try their products and choose the ones they like the most, taking into account the scents, colours, handling, etc. Thanks to this transparency, they want to establish trust between parents, children and the brand.

In France, we will encounter the same "challenges" as in the Chinese market, however, launching in the pharmaceutical world, which corresponds to the professional training of the founder, will bring credibility to this emerging brand .” explains Tarascon.