Raymond Cloosterman: The Entrepreneur Behind Rituals Cosmetics

Raymond Cloosterman is a Dutch entrepreneur, business economist, and the founder and CEO of Rituals Cosmetics. He is best known for transforming the simple idea of making everyday routines more meaningful into an international beauty and wellbeing business. After leaving a successful career at Unilever, Cloosterman launched Rituals in Amsterdam in 2000. What began with a single store eventually developed into a global brand selling body care, skincare, home fragrances, and lifestyle products.

Unlike many beauty businesses built around one hero product, Rituals was designed as an experience-led brand. Cloosterman combined mindfulness, affordable luxury, sensory retail, and the idea that ordinary activities such as showering or lighting a candle can become moments of personal wellbeing.

Quick Bio

Detail	Information
Full Name	Raymond Cloosterman
Profession	Entrepreneur, Business Executive
Known For	Founder & CEO of Rituals Cosmetics
Nationality	Dutch
Birthplace	Netherlands
Education	Business Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Founded Rituals	2000
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Industry	Beauty, Cosmetics & Wellbeing
Previous Employer	Unilever
Famous For	Building Rituals into a global luxury wellbeing brand

Who Is Raymond Cloosterman?

Raymond Cloosterman is the founder and chief executive officer of Rituals Cosmetics, a Dutch luxury beauty and wellbeing company headquartered in Amsterdam. He studied Business Economics at Erasmus School of Economics and graduated in 1989 before building his corporate career at Unilever.

Rather than leaving corporate life because of limited opportunities, Cloosterman walked away from an established career to pursue an idea he believed could become a different kind of lifestyle brand.

Today, his name is closely associated with modern brand building, experiential retail, wellness, and premium consumer products.

Raymond Cloosterman’s Early Career at Unilever

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Cloosterman spent years learning how major consumer businesses operate. According to an industry biography from the Tax Free World Association, he worked at Unilever for around 13 years before starting Rituals.

During his corporate career, he travelled extensively while researching consumer trends, retail concepts, cultures, and business practices. These experiences exposed him to traditions in which ordinary activities carried greater emotional or reflective meaning.

He began to see an opportunity. Everyday habits were often treated purely as necessities, yet they could also become enjoyable moments that encouraged people to slow down.

That insight eventually became the foundation of Rituals Cosmetics.

Why Raymond Cloosterman Founded Rituals

Cloosterman created Rituals around a simple idea: transform everyday routines into meaningful rituals.

His travels, particularly his experiences with Asian traditions and philosophies, helped inspire the concept. Rituals’ official company history states that Cloosterman was 36 when he left his successful career to pursue the idea. The first Rituals store opened on Kalverstraat, one of Amsterdam’s best-known shopping streets, in 2000.

The concept crossed traditional retail categories. Instead of concentrating solely on cosmetics, Rituals brought body care and home products together under one lifestyle identity.

Its range eventually included products such as shower foams, body creams, skincare, men’s grooming items, candles, fragrance sticks, home perfumes, and gift collections.

However, Cloosterman was selling more than individual products. The wider proposition was an atmosphere, experience, and philosophy centered on appreciating small moments.

The Difficult Early Years of Rituals

The global success of Rituals can make its beginning look easy, but growth was slow during the company’s early years.

Cloosterman had left the security of a senior corporate career and needed to prove that consumers would understand his unusual retail concept. Rituals also had to convince customers that its products were useful throughout the year rather than only as occasional gifts.

Expansion did not happen immediately. Erasmus University notes that it took approximately four years for Rituals to progress from its first store to its second.

This period demonstrates an important entrepreneurial lesson: a promising concept does not always produce instant growth. New businesses often need time to refine their products, customer experience, pricing, positioning, and operations.

Cloosterman remained committed to his original concept despite those challenges.

How Rituals Became a Global Brand

After strengthening its position in the Netherlands, Rituals began expanding internationally. Belgium became one of its first foreign markets in 2005, and the company gradually extended its presence across Europe and beyond.

Rituals developed a multi-channel business spanning standalone boutiques, department stores, travel retail, hotels, ecommerce, and wellbeing experiences. This approach helped the company reach different customers without abandoning its recognizable premium identity.

By its 25th anniversary, Rituals reported more than 12,000 employees across 33 countries and more than 1,400 stores worldwide.

In January 2026, the company reported net revenue of €2.43 billion for 2025, representing growth of 16% compared with the previous year.

The scale of the business shows how successfully Cloosterman turned an initially slow-growing Amsterdam concept into an international wellbeing company.

Raymond Cloosterman’s Business Strategy

One of the strongest elements behind Rituals is its focus on a consistent customer experience.

Cloosterman has emphasized the importance of ensuring that products, fragrances, packaging, store environments, service, and storytelling work together. Instead of competing primarily through low prices, Rituals aims to create emotional connections with customers.

Several ideas define its strategy:

• Affordable luxury: Products aim to feel premium while remaining accessible to a broader audience than traditional luxury brands.
• Sensory retail: Customers are encouraged to smell, touch, test, and experience products inside stores.
• Storytelling: Product collections frequently connect with traditions, wellbeing, and mindful living.
• Cross-category retail: Body products and home fragrances exist within the same lifestyle world.
• Gift appeal: Premium presentation helps make Rituals products attractive for gifting as well as everyday use.

This strategy has allowed the business to differentiate itself in a highly competitive global beauty market.

Sustainability and Responsible Growth

Sustainability has also become increasingly important as Rituals has expanded.

The company became a Certified B Corporation in 2022 and has introduced refill options, packaging initiatives, and environmental commitments intended to reduce its impact.

Rituals has also established a 10% Profit Pledge. Under this commitment, the company says it allocates 10% of its annual net profit toward projects supporting the wellbeing of people and the planet, with the pledge applying from 2025 based on the previous year’s profit.

For Cloosterman, this adds another dimension to the company’s long-term challenge: continuing international growth while responding to consumers who increasingly expect major brands to demonstrate environmental and social responsibility.

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Raymond Cloosterman

Cloosterman’s career offers several useful lessons for founders and business leaders.

First, valuable customer insights do not always come from spreadsheets. His travels helped him notice cultural and emotional behaviors that eventually became the basis of an entire brand.

Second, differentiation does not necessarily require inventing a completely new product. Shower gels, creams, candles, and fragrances already existed. Rituals stood out because Cloosterman changed how those products were positioned, presented, combined, and experienced.

Third, slow beginnings do not automatically mean an idea is unsuccessful. Rituals needed several years to develop momentum before accelerating its expansion.

Finally, consistency matters. Premium brands depend on hundreds of details working together, including packaging, scent, store atmosphere, service, storytelling, and company culture.

Raymond Cloosterman and the Future of Rituals

More than 25 years after its founding, Rituals continues to expand beyond conventional beauty retail.

Newer concepts such as Mind Oasis demonstrate the company’s ambition to move further into wellbeing experiences. At the same time, its international boutiques, ecommerce operations, travel retail presence, and other distribution channels provide additional opportunities for global growth.

Rituals has positioned its long-term ambition around becoming a leading global wellbeing brand. For Cloosterman, achieving that goal will require protecting the philosophy that made Rituals distinctive while responding to changing expectations surrounding wellness, sustainability, technology, and convenience.

The challenge is essentially the same one that has followed the company throughout its growth: expand without losing the identity that attracted customers in the first place.

Conclusion

Raymond Cloosterman transformed a simple observation about everyday life into a powerful international brand. After building his career at Unilever, he founded Rituals Cosmetics in Amsterdam in 2000 around the idea that ordinary routines could become more meaningful experiences.

His journey demonstrates the importance of vision, patience, customer experience, strong positioning, and consistent brand building. Rituals’ growth from one store into an international beauty and wellbeing company also proves that familiar products can become distinctive when they are supported by compelling storytelling and a clear purpose.

For entrepreneurs studying modern consumer businesses, Raymond Cloosterman provides a valuable example of how persistence, creativity, and careful brand development can turn a modest retail idea into a global company.

Frequently Asked Questions About Raymond Cloosterman

Who is Raymond Cloosterman?

Raymond Cloosterman is a Dutch entrepreneur, business economist, and the founder and CEO of Rituals Cosmetics. He launched Rituals in Amsterdam in 2000 after leaving a long corporate career at Unilever. He is best known for creating a global beauty and wellbeing brand centered on transforming ordinary routines into meaningful moments.

What company did Raymond Cloosterman found?

Raymond Cloosterman founded Rituals Cosmetics, a Dutch beauty and wellbeing company offering body care, skincare, home fragrances, men’s products, and lifestyle items. The business started with one Amsterdam store and later developed into an international brand with boutiques and other retail locations across dozens of markets.

When did Raymond Cloosterman start Rituals?

Cloosterman founded Rituals in 2000. Its first store opened on Kalverstraat in Amsterdam, one of the city’s major shopping streets. Growth was relatively slow during the early years, but the business gradually gained momentum before expanding across Europe and other international markets.

Where did Raymond Cloosterman work before Rituals?

Before founding Rituals, Raymond Cloosterman spent around 13 years at Unilever. His corporate career gave him experience in consumer products, management, international business, and brand development. Research and travel during this period also exposed him to ideas and traditions that helped inspire the concept behind Rituals.

What is Raymond Cloosterman’s business philosophy?

Cloosterman’s philosophy focuses on turning ordinary routines into richer experiences. From a business perspective, he emphasizes strong branding, sensory retail, customer experience, premium presentation, attention to detail, storytelling, and company culture. These principles are reflected throughout Rituals’ products, packaging, stores, service, and wider lifestyle positioning.

Is Raymond Cloosterman still CEO of Rituals?

Yes. Rituals continues to identify Raymond Cloosterman as its founder and CEO. More than two decades after establishing the business, he remains strongly associated with its brand identity, company culture, international growth strategy, wellbeing philosophy, innovation, and long-term direction.

How successful is Rituals Cosmetics?

Rituals has grown from one Amsterdam shop into a major international beauty and wellbeing business. The company reported €2.43 billion in net revenue for 2025 and operates across more than 30 countries through boutiques and other retail channels.

Continue exploring entrepreneur profiles and successful global brands to discover how clear positioning, customer insight, and persistence can transform promising ideas into enduring businesses.

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