Carrefour has opened a ‘clean’ cosmetics store in Paris, called Sources (RetailDetail). Transparency about the composition of the products is key to the concept: more than 75 controversial ingredients have been excluded from the range.

Clean Beauty
The first Sources store opened in the heart of the trendy Marais area and offers a selection of 170 brands, all of which have been screened by the scientific team behind the Clean Beauty app. Controversial products and other allergens in cosmetics were identified and put on a list of 75 common but controversial ingredients, such as parabens and aluminium. All products containing those ingredients are banned from the shelves of Sources. “After price, the second purchasing criterion for customers is the composition of these beauty products,” Pascal Clouzard, director of Carrefour France, said to LesEchos.

The range is not just limited to organic products: there is also room for L’Oréal, Maybelline, Petit Marseillais, Nuxe and Filorga, in addition to a number of young brands, such as Marlie (100 % organic hair care) or Kadalys (banana-based products). The product range consists of 3,400 references. In addition, Sources also provides a number of services, such as a hairdresser and a beauty salon.

“It is a trial in a new market segment. If it works, we will develop a chain using a franchise model”, Clouzard said. Plans are already underway for a second location. Carrefour is not the first to test such a concept: last year, Casino and L’Oréal opened ‘…Le drugstore parisien’, offering a combination of beauty products, medicines, a small assortment of healthy snacks and various services.