Nivea: The Cult Brand's U-Turn – From Premium Back to Masses

Vincent Warnery has been in an unfamiliar situation for a few months now. The CEO of Beiersdorf had been enjoying success since taking office in May 2021. The former L'Oréal manager drove the traditionally and sluggishly Hamburg-based consumer goods company from record sales to record sales. The DAX underperformer from March 2021 became a favorite of investors: Beiersdorf shares were temporarily quoted at a record high of almost €148 per share.

This is now over for the time being, and Warnery, the transformer, inevitably has to become a crisis manager. The reason for this is Beiersdorf's biggest asset: the skin care brand Nivea, responsible for half of the group's total sales.

The brand, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of its iconic blue tin cream last year, is in crisis. Sales have plummeted by almost 7% in the first half of 2026. That this is not a temporary development is shown by Warnery's reaction: he prescribed Nivea an 18-month turnaround plan with which he wants to lead the world's oldest skin cream back to its former strength. In doing so, Warnery has to say goodbye to the strategy that once made him so successful: the "premium path" for Nivea.

Warnery also has another problem - the image of the brand. The failed premium path is one problem. Anyone who opens the discount app of drugstores like dm or Rossmann these days will see Nivea offers flashing at them remarkably frequently. A selection: 25% discount on Nivea face care, 20% on Nivea sunscreen, 20% on Nivea Derma Control deodorant, 50% on hair care, deodorant, shower gel or body care when buying two products.

The goal behind this is clear: consumers should buy more Nivea products again. Warnery formulated this in an interview with journalists last week: "We want consumers to buy more products, and we want more consumers to buy more products." The company seems to be creating the necessary incentives for this.

Nivea has lost market share in recent years. However, the development of the skin care brand looked promising. Warnery gave Beiersdorf a long-awaited vision: "We want to be the best skin care company in the world," said the Frenchman as his goal. His strategy behind this was to turn the mass brand Nivea into a premium skincare brand with groundbreaking innovations, whose products can then be sold with significantly higher margins than the classic Nivea cream, which costs just €2.45. This worked excellently for several years.

At Nivea, product lines were developed around the patented active ingredients Thiamidol (helps to reduce skin pigmentation) and Epicelline (skin-rejuvenating active ingredient). While most Nivea products cost between €2 and €10, the Thiamidol range "Luminous 630" stands out clearly. It includes a serum for €28 and a face fluid for €26.

Not only did sales increase enormously with this strategy, especially between 2022 and 2024, when it rose by more than 16% at its peak. The premium strategy also had a positive impact on margins.

Since taking office, Warnery has increased it by around 1.5 percentage points. However, the group realized that it cannot come up with a supposedly revolutionary new active ingredient every year. Beiersdorf also recognized that there is "not everywhere" a market for premium skin care, Warnery admits. The business with cheaper products such as deodorant, shower gel, and body lotion had been neglected and should now be reactivated.

Tabea Höllger is a consumer goods expert at brand consultancy Brand Trust. She compares the premium strategy with another case from Beiersdorf's past: "It reminded me of the 2000s when Nivea tried to go into decorative cosmetics," she says. For a while, Nivea also sold make-up but stopped production in 2012. "Here, too, they had abandoned the actual brand core. I think that's a shame."

The brand is actually very strongly positioned in the market. It stands for gentle care for the whole family. "The attempt to apply luxury codes to such a mass brand is difficult," Höllger says. An industry insider told the Handelsblatt that prices, such as those L'Oréal can charge for its premium brands, are "not achievable" for Nivea. "Moreover, they are not the fastest in terms of innovation," says the expert.

The adjustment speed of Beiersdorf is also criticized by shareholder representatives. Given the ongoing loss of market share, he questions whether a "reactive strategy" is sufficient to remedy the current problems, says Felix Dennl, analyst at Metzler Capital Markets. "In a challenging market environment, Beiersdorf seems to lack the agility to adapt to changing trends or growing competitive pressure," Dennl says.

Brand expert Höllger recommends that Beiersdorf run the active ingredient-based skin care around the active ingredients Thiamidol and Epicelline only under the Eucerin brand, which is also part of the group. "A clinically confirmed reduction of pigment spots, and that at high prices, does not fit with Nivea's gentle care," Höllger says.

The "Derma" division of Beiersdorf with the brands Eucerin and Aquaphor, which promises scientifically based skin care, is running very well: in the first half-year, it was able to increase sales by 7.8%. Warnery was responsible for the Derma category at Beiersdorf before becoming CEO. He now wants to counteract this at Nivea. He is expanding the focus from premium skin care to other areas again.