Rather today than tomorrow, is the tenor in the online world, according to Geels. "You see a lot of craziness of instant and free, but everything costs money and energy. With slow commerce, we put something opposite to that, beyond the delusion of the day. We provide an environment that helps consumers make thoughtful and meaningful purchases. We show that things can be done differently, even online."
If we do something, it has to be good and honest."
- Hans Geels
Natural simplicity
Dille & Kamille began in 1974 on Utrecht's Oudegracht, in response to the disposable society. In a wharf cellar, Freek Kamerling opened a store with a startling combination of products: from furniture to tea and from candles to cane sugar, within the overarching philosophy of natural simplicity. It is still the compass of the family business, which Hans Geels gets to run on a daily basis.
10 percent online sales
Under Geels, CEO since 2013, Dille & Kamille has grown rapidly. The number of stores tripled to 57, including 30 in the Netherlands, 15 in Belgium, 11 in Germany and one in France. Digital revenues also grew strongly, with e-commerce now accounting for about 10 percent of sales. "Local online revenue increases when we open a store somewhere. But we see the Internet primarily as a support service, especially for those places where we do not have a physical presence. Internet remains suboptimal, in stores customers can use more senses and we can tell our whole story."
Atypical
As atypical as Dille & Kamille was on the high street in the 1970s, it is online anno 2026. "We do everything that is not in the booklets," Geels says with a laugh. "For starters, we don't work with loss-making orders. We also no longer offer free shipping, even from a certain amount. We introduced that about a year and a half ago, to make it clear that delivery just always costs money. Free does not exist, so we do not use it as an improper tool to win customers."
We don't work with loss-making orders"
- Hans Geels
Click & collect
Online buyers at Dille & Kamille can pick up orders in store, to save delivery costs and miles. "But we are not very good at that," says Geels. "In the fourth quarter of the year, for example, we can't guarantee that it goes smoothly. The stores are very busy then, and employees don't get to those pickup orders very well. It's not a smooth process, and I have a hard time promising customers things we can't deliver." Geels also doesn't want physical customers to be inconvenienced by click & collect: "Service is good, but not at any cost. If we do something, it has to be good and fair. For the collection process, we have to go back to the drawing board."
Green Friday
Principles may cost something at Dille & Kamille, which is growing briskly and profitably just the same. Like on Green Friday, its own alternative to clearance day Black Friday in November. About this, Geels says: "When Black Friday came over from America, we did participate in it, in the previous decade. We organized a kind of attic clearance, but that just felt really bad. We give discounts only in exceptional cases, for example around Christmas or when we are going to sell another series of ceramics.It's not part of the business model."
Dille & Kamille renamed Black Friday Green Friday to draw attention to forest planting. For several years, the stores and Web store have remained closed on that November Friday. "Of course Green Friday is also marketing," Geels answers a frequently asked question, "but it also costs us serious money. The Saturday after is good, but we don't compensate for the loss of sales with that." The chain gets other things in return, but they are difficult to quantify.
Of course, Green Friday is also marketing ."
- Hans Geels
Next best thing
As a commercial organization with a positive impact on people, the environment and society, Dille & Kamille has B Corp status. Together with chain partners and suppliers, the company tries to reduce CO2 emissions. It also tries to overcompensate its negative impact, including with its own food forest and collaborations with the World Wildlife Fund and Terre des Hommes.
Dille & Kamille is not of the raised finger, if only because it sells its own new products that people - on the face of it - usually don't really need. Geels makes no bones about it. "We are the next best thing. I was appointed to run a retail business, and retail extracts material and energy. That in itself is not sustainable." With timeless products made from natural materials, Dille & Kamille offers a relatively eco-friendly option for purchasing new products, with the emphasis on relatively.
Asked about initiatives in the area of second-hand products or upcycling, Geels says, "That has our attention and we have had experience with it. But we are not obviously good at it yet. We are now concentrating on achieving the highest standards in selling new stuff, which is not easy either. Every discussion internally starts with the question: how can we do this best and most fairly? We are raising the bar higher and higher."
Green waves
Geels sees society's focus on sustainability waning recently, due to a combination of factors. Green wave movements have always been there over the past 52 years. "Customers come to Dille & Kamille because we have nice atmospheric stores, beautiful timeless products and nice people. We don't market ourselves as sustainable. The group of people who are intrinsically motivated to do something sustainable is very small. A larger group takes it into account in purchasing decisions, but most people don't. However, that group - maybe it's 90 percent - is quite willing to make a sustainable choice with help."
A/B testing
Dille & Kamille ships products within three days through various delivery partners. Those who pick up an order from a parcel locker are cheaper, in-store pickup is free but it can take one to five days for an order to be ready there. "It turns out that customers are quite willing to wait several days for our products, unless they are gifts. We play with it to make the last mile as sustainable as possible." There is a lot of testing involved, according to Geels: "From our idealism, we try to bridge the gap to practice every time, for example with A/B testing. Price is and will always be a factor, of course we are not crazy."
New website and gift finder
What's on Dille & Kamille's digital roadmap? "In the course of this year, we will start working on a new website, which should go live in early 2027," says Geels. "The site should give us more flexibility, for example to add low-threshold moving images for inspiration. AI? We have already done some pioneering with an AI agent, a gift finder, which we are testing now. If new technology can take repetitive work off the hands of colleagues and help more customers well, why not?"
A story about guts
At the Webwinkel Vakdagen, Hans Geels talks about slow commerce at Dille & Kamille. According to the CEO, it won't be so much a story about sustainability, more about guts: "You don't have to follow the mob, I want to make clear. You can approach it differently, out of the box. You have to keep your feet on the ground, stay sober and test, because laws do apply. But stubbornness pays off."
Hans Geels, CEO of Dille & Kamille, will give a keynote presentation at Webwinkel Vakdagen on Thursday, March 26 at 2:30 p.m. Claim your free ticket here.
