This award celebrates successful business partnerships with department stores' best brands, suppliers, vendors, consultants, partners and service providers.

The criteria for this award include: innovativeness, product and/or service quality, customer-centricity, contribution to the department store's performance, a minimum of a three-year period of cooperation and a global reach.

 

From left: Michael Ganci (SVP, NuOrder by Lightspeed), and Raymond Cloosterman (Founder & CEO, Rituals)

Berlin 2024

Winner: Rituals (The Netherlands)
Finalists: L’Oréal Luxe (France) and Bestseller (Denmark)

The Netherlands based Rituals was voted by their department stores partners to be the winner of the 'World's Best Business Partner to Department Stores 2024', for its great cooperation, strong adaptability, and consistent performance. The Founder & CEO of Rituals, Raymond Cloosterman, received the trophy from award sponsor Michael Ganci, SVP of NuOrder by Lightspeed (USA). L’Oréal (France) and Bestseller (Denmark) were the two other finalists; they were represented respectively by Adrien Seugé, Chief Marketing Officer Omni-Channel of L’Oréal Luxe, and Lars Pedersen, Regional Director of Bestseller.

London 2018

Winner: Gucci (Italy)
Finalists: L’Oréal Luxe (France) and Tommy Hilfiger (USA)

For the first time, GDSS celebrated the successful partnerships with department stores’ best brands, suppliers, vendors, consultants, partners and service providers with a new important award: ‘The World’s Best Business Partner to Department Stores’. Gucci was the winner of this prestigious award and its President & CEO, Mr Marco Bizzarri, received his trophy from Mr Sehun Park, GDSS Jury, and Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal. L’Oréal and Tommy Hilfiger were the two other Award finalists; they were represented respectively by Mr Thierry Cheval, L’Oréal Luxe Global Retail & Digital Director, and Mr David Pyne, Managing Director of Tommy Hilfiger.