Mr. Garbe, what is the Scent Creator and how does it work?

The Scent Creator is a fully connected small home appliance that users can operate with the help of a mobile app to create individual fragrances. First, the users load the scent cartridges into the Scent Creator, and second they open the Alchemist Atelier app. The app offers different visualization concepts that allow users to understand how the resulting perfume will smell, before producing it. Once the users have decided on a formula, they place a perfume bottle into the Scent Creator, and sent the formula. That’s all it takes to create the perfect fragrance for everyone’s individual taste. From my point of view, that is definitely a revolution for the perfume industry.

The Scent Creator was first created within BSH’s Corporate Innovations department before Noustique was founded to continue the development. Why did BSH decide for a startup instead of integrating the product in its portfolio?

The Scent Creator is the result of one of our innovation projects, with which we explore how to meet digital consumers’ needs – also outside of our traditional business. After the Scent Creator had been developed by Álvaro Suárez’ project team, we decided to found the Noustique startup. There are two major reasons: First, we believe in the disruptive nature of the Noustique solution and its extraordinary economical potential. However, to successfully operate in such a new ecosystem, multiple competencies are paramount to master. Therefore, we reached out to several strategic partners and found the perfect match in Puig International. Together with this experienced player in the perfume industry, we founded a joint venture. The second reason is that a joint venture company offers a win-win situation: It combines the advantages of a startup, being lean, flexible, fast, and agile, with the expertise and professionalism of mother companies. Furthermore, we wanted to allow the market to invest in this new business model and to develop it further. If the business model becomes successful, we can generate revenue without sharing the risks – either through product sales or by selling more of our shares to Puig, if they are interested.

How does this project fit into BSH’s Hardware+ strategy?

Like I already explained, the Scent Creator is a fully connected small home appliance that users can operate only with a mobile app. Thus, it fits perfectly into BSH’s Hardware+ strategy, which aims at becoming the leading provider of connected hardware and digital services in the home appliance industry. The project offers BSH the possibility of entering a completely new business sector and is a huge learning opportunity for us. We are very pleased that Noustique has now successfully started its activities in the perfume market and we are convinced that such innovations will help develop business models and shape consumer behavior.