After several difficult years, Weleda is undergoing a transformation. Ueli Hurter of the Weleda Board of Directors described the journey with new CEO Tina Müller as a “triathlon”: some stages appear to have been completed, other goals are in sight, and still others remain in the distance. Wolfgang Held spoke with Tina Müller, Ueli Hurter, and Thomas Jorberg (Chairman of the Board) at the company’s annual general meeting.
At its annual meeting in May, Weleda AG announced sales growth of nine percent—outpacing the market. How was such a turnaround possible in just three years?
Tina Müller: Wir haben 2022 erkannt, dass es so nicht weitergehen konnte. Weleda verlor Marktanteile – ausgerechnet in unseren Heimatmärkten Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Das war ein klares Signal: Die Marke war für die Kundinnen nicht mehr attraktiv genug. Sie war in die Jahre gekommen. Wir hatten treue ältere Kundinnen und ein Loch bei allen dazwischen – bei den 15- bis 30-Jährigen ebenso wie bei den 40- bis 60-Jährigen. Also genau dort, wo Gesichtspflege das wichtigste Thema ist. Also haben wir modernisiert und uns fokussiert. Man kann als Marke nicht alles für alle sein. Unser Schwerpunkt liegt heute auf der Gesichtspflege – dem Boom-Segment des Marktes – und auf der Generation Z. Dazu kamen Innovation, Digitalisierung und internationales Wachstum: Weleda ist in über 50 Ländern präsent. Diese Strategie hat Weleda wieder auf Wachstumskurs gebracht.
You can’t just pull new products out of a hat.
Müller: No. They arise from the interplay of research and development, outstanding formulas, and target-group-specific marketing. The role of marketing is to sense what people wish for and where the market is heading and then to ask, “Does this align with our positioning? With our values? Does it meet NATRUE certification—the strictest standard in natural cosmetics?” If a product doesn’t pass these tests, we don’t produce it. Before a product hits the market, we test it with our customers, but also with people who haven’t bought Weleda products before. We want to know: Are we appealing to them, too? This is a highly professional process, and Weleda is on par here with any major cosmetics company.
How did this strategic shift at Weleda come about?
Thomas Jorberg: We faced many challenges from 2020 to 2022: the ban on insurance reimbursement in France, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. We emerged from that low point and successfully reorganized Weleda in 2023. But what we needed to do next was to reach new customer groups and rejuvenate our customer base. That was the strategic decision, and that’s why we asked Tina Müller if she would take up this task. That decision is now proving to be a success.
Müller: Brands that don’t keep up with the times will eventually fade away. That was the danger.
Jorberg: When Tina Müller joined the enterprise, none of us had any doubts that such a shift would be successful. Weleda, this 100-year-old brand, has incredible potential. It’s a matter of breathing new life into it.
Ueli Hurter: In the selection process for a new CEO, two candidates remained at the end, each with very different visions for Weleda. Tina Müller presented ideas toward growth, while the other candidate outlined a scenario where Weleda would become a boutique brand. In this context, a boutique brand means not subjecting oneself to the pressure of constantly having to fight for market share. It means retreating into an even smaller niche than we already occupied. Faced with this choice, it was clear to us: being a mass-market brand is part of what makes Weleda what it is.
Müller: There are very few brands worldwide that accompany people throughout their entire lives, from infancy to old age. Nivea can do that, of course. But in the natural cosmetics sector, I don’t know of any other brand besides Weleda that does that That’s both a responsibility and an obligation—and it gives rise to our commitment to constantly reinvent ourselves. That way it stays the same. The numbers show that people value the brand more than ever. Our target audiences are growing. Last fall, we launched our rejuvenation line, “Cell Longevity,” in perfumeries across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. These stores attract a clientele with high standards. When Weleda quality is evident there, it reflects positively on the entire brand. And it is evident. A growth strategy only works with compelling products. Consumers aren’t easily fooled.
“Appearance over substance” doesn’t work?
Müller: Today, results are what count. This is especially true in cosmetics because a large generation is now reaching their 50s and 60s. These people pay attention to their diet, they exercise, and they stay fit. And they want to look the way they feel inwardly: healthy and energetic. This has given rise to the longevity market. This is exactly where blue gentian and edelweiss from the Swiss mountains come into play. We have filed a patent application for the active ingredients of these medicinal plants. With them, we deliver 60 percent more collagen to the skin. Karin Michael from the Medical Section told me that she uses blue gentian as an ointment. Feedback like this tells me more than any market research. I’ve been in this industry for 30 years; this level of quality is virtually unmatched anywhere in the world. And it must be preserved—but it must also be translated into new, attractive products.
Does what you’re describing with Enzian [blue gentian] also apply to the new “Weleda Cell Longevity” line with NAD+, which is all about bringing more energy into the cells? [NAD+ is a coenzyme involved in metabolism and redox reactions.]
Müller: Exactly. NAD+ is the active ingredient that restores energy to the cells. We extract it from sunflower sprouts.
Hurter: A Swiss-certified organic farm supplies us with these sunflower sprouts.
Müller: The energy contained in this sprout is transferred to the skin through our products so that the mitochondria in the skin cells receive more energy and, as a result, age more slowly.
So, your strategy is to meet customer expectations while following current dermatological research, which says NAD+ is essential for cellular energy metabolism? But you don’t administer it via injection?
Müller: That’s right.
Hurter: We discussed this at length at our board meetings. What does “natural cosmetics” mean to us, aside from ingredients? The effect must be regenerative, protective, or rejuvenating for the skin. This was established on dermatological principles. For us, “rejuvenating” means not resorting to injections but rather supporting the skin’s natural processes. It’s about an integrative process, similar to what we know from medicine. We hold our R&D department—and our head of R&D was right there with us—to the standard of adhering to strict ecological guidelines and maintaining trust in our ingredients. We want to sail close to the wind; we must reach new shores.
Does that mean sunflowers are now growing in organic—or better yet, biodynamic—soil?
Hurter: Between 80 and 82 percent of our raw materials come from organic farming, and about 10 percent from biodynamic farming.
Why isn’t the proportion of biodynamic farming higher?
Hurter: There should be more. These are long-term partnerships, and we are in the process of building them. Only through long-term collaborative trade relationships can we arrive at a price that is acceptable to both sides.
Müller: In Germany, we sell primarily through drugstores. Our prices are on the higher end there—Weleda is already considered a premium brand in drugstores. Especially now, where many people are tight on money, our products have to be worth every euro they cost.
The hand creams are twice as expensive as those of other brands.
Müller: The shower gel three times. There has to be a limit somewhere, and it has to be economical, too.
Does the enormous amount spent on marketing also factor into the company’s profitability? The annual report lists CHF 100 million.
Müller: It’s important to take a closer look here. That 100 million covers all our distribution costs—agreements with retailers, sales promotions, everything. Only 40 million of that goes toward actual advertising. Sales are just under 500 million: we’re no longer a small brand by any means. We can’t do without this investment. A brand can only reach people if it remains well-known, and the competition for attention has grown fiercer in both cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. On top of that, communication today is significantly more complex than it was ten years ago. We reach young people through social media, the middle generation through all channels, and older people through TV and print. They still read. So we’re using significantly more channels than we used to. Anyone who doesn’t keep up will lose customers. I’d phrase the question differently: What would it have cost Weleda not to make these investments? It’s like farming. If a brand loses strength because too little was done for it for too long, you have to start planting seeds again. At first, that costs more than it brings in. The harvest comes later. That’s exactly why we deliberately over-invested in cosmetics last year.
Is that the entrepreneurial courage?
Müller: It is an entrepreneurial decision, and that involves risk. If it doesn’t grow, it hasn’t worked. The logic behind it is simple: First, you invest in brand strength and awareness; revenue grows—which has worked exceptionally well—then you keep the marketing budget constant, and profits follow. Cosmetics now account for 83 percent of our revenue. They are the driving force sustaining the company.
That doesn’t work where every product is concerned. Wheat shampoo wasn’t a success, was it?
Müller: I wrote a book about why products fail. The failure rate in the consumer goods industry is 60 to 70 percent—half of what hits the market today is gone again after a year or two. That’s just part of the business. If you look at our innovations over the past two years, we’ve performed disproportionately well. But not with everything. Nobody gets every one right.
Increasing speed is also part of the transformation. “Developing capacity for renewal” was the phrase used in the annual report.[1] How do you become faster?
Jorberg: For value-driven companies—which is especially true of Weleda—this is a difficult question, because people often mistakenly associate values with the structures and procedural processes that have developed over time. But the values actually lie somewhere else. Values aren’t found in procedures; the procedures and processes, instead, have to be consistent with what the company stands for. In that respect, it’s painful to shift into a different pace and trajectory, even for a company like Weleda. You can’t do that simply by leaving things as they are and saying, “Now move faster!” You have to change the structures themselves. You need new people. That’s the process we’re in right now.
Even in logistics, which has now reached a new level with a new distribution center?
Jorberg: All the way down to supply chain management. Since we’re now—fortunately—growing so much, we need to make further changes to our procedural systems and structures. This requires additional investments on top of the seed capital we’ve already put into the market.
Will the heavy investment continue?
Jorberg: The focus needs to shift now.
Müller: To the engine room.
Hurter: We’re in the middle of a triathlon. The first leg—the first third—is behind us. Now comes the phase of strengthening systems, which will be followed by the final third. With pharmaceuticals, we haven’t reached the necessary pace. That’s a major source of distress. This applies to the entire anthroposophic medicine community as well as to Weleda. Today, a lack of growth or momentum equals depression. Standing still is not a strategy. Much of the profit from the cosmetics division is being swallowed up by the losses in the pharmaceutical division. That amounts to a double-digit figure in the millions—and there’s about 80 million in revenue in the pharmaceutical sector involved.
That’s a danger.
Hurter: If the major shareholders didn’t say, “We want it this way,” it would be almost impossible to maintain. Cross-subsidization on this scale is economically unreasonable.
Because it comes at the expense of innovative spirit?
Hurter: Not necessarily—a business also has a responsibility to society as a whole. But if it tries to do something it can’t do and loses money as a result, that doesn’t serve anyone’s interests. After all, we want to serve!
Jorberg: We need to keep up this pace, and I certainly see opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector as well. But there are strong conceptions there that the end result is the true value. That may be true in some production processes, but not in many. This is also a question for the entire anthroposophical medical movement. We aren’t the ones who use pharmaceuticals in the clinics. In the cosmetics sector, we are much closer to consumers than we are in the medical field. That’s why we can’t solve this problem on our own—and certainly not with the structures we currently have. We must work together to develop this further.
Müller: Our pharmaceutical line includes approximately 1,000 products. Some of these are over-the-counter, meaning they are sold directly to patients without a prescription. In addition, we offer a wide range of products for anthroposophic physicians and pharmacies. It’s not feasible to market this entire range. Instead, we focus on a few key over-the-counter products that are already well known.
Euphrasia for the eyes?
Müller: Yes, for example, or Amara for digestion. Going forward, we’ll market these products in a similar way to our cosmetics. After all, Weleda has thus far primarily been known for its cosmetics; in the pharmaceutical sector, we first need to build brand awareness—quickly and efficiently. At the annual general meeting, we unveiled our new campaign, “From Nature’s Pharmacy.” It launches this fall. This is one of our priorities. If we don’t grow in this area, we won’t be able to reduce the losses. We can’t achieve success only by cutting costs. We’ve brought Stefanie Häfele on board for this task; she comes from the commercial pharmaceutical sector.
Hurter: Self-medication is no longer limited to a specific segment of the population; it affects society as a whole. Our analysis is that we actually have very good products, but we’re not able to get them into the hands of consumers. In this sense, “commercialization” means putting Weleda’s democratic ethos into practice when it comes to medicinal products as well.
Müller: If I didn’t know about the great product Amara, I wouldn’t even think to use it for my gastrointestinal problems.
Hurter: Incidentally, I believe this is in line with Steiner’s approach when he introduced his “type remedies,” which are what we now call “-dorones.” These are not remedies for individual therapy—which is, after all, a specialty of anthroposophic medicine—but rather, they were and are remedies for balancing and regulating symptoms of the times as a whole.
Jorberg: That’s also the problem: anthroposophic medicine appears one-dimensional. But it isn’t really. The fact is, given the same medical history and diagnosis, one doctor will prescribe a different medication than their colleague would for the same patient. That’s what individualization is all about. And that raises the question of how we can further develop this so that open-minded doctors can apply it. We should work with them to come up with a solution. I also believe we need to embrace digitalization much more in this area, because hardly anyone today has this level of complexity and knowledge at their fingertips. The other aspect is the “Focus” product line, which anyone can use. There, we can also demonstrate the mechanism of action. That’s why we conduct clinical research.
Hurter: How does the loss here occur? Very small batches of highly complex products are filled on complex machines. This means that setup time is three times as long as filling time. And then the shelf life is usually two years; after two years, half has to be destroyed. And when you walk into the warehouses—even just seeing the packaging materials alone—the abundance is overwhelming! From both an economic and a spiritual perspective, you have to say, “This isn’t reasonable. Something has to change.”
There’s a good reason why other companies don’t offer such an abundance of options, right?
Hurter: Therapeutic approaches such as Ayurveda or Chinese medicine also offer a wide variety of remedies. But our goal is to manufacture everything on an industrial scale, keep it in stock, and ensure it’s available. That’s where we need to focus our efforts.
What are your visions and dreams for Weleda?
Müller: Weleda is unique—and our vision is to make this uniqueness accessible to more and more people. This brand achieves something that hardly any other does: a harmony between health and beauty. For me, these are two sides of the same coin, in harmony with both people and nature. That is certainly worth carrying forward. But this must be done in a way that ensures the enterprise remains financially strong—even 100 years from now. This year we’re celebrating 100 years of “Skin Food,” a very complex formula that has remained unchanged for a century and is more popular than ever. This shows where Weleda’s force lies: in the formulas and in the products themselves. Our task as management and the Board of Directors is to continue building this brand while simultaneously strengthening the foundations—procedures, systems, and administration—thereby ensuring that this enterprise can navigate the next 100 years safely and resiliently.
You now have Maria Furtwängler on board. Is the German actress and philanthropist a good fit for Weleda?
Müller: Maria Furtwängler isn’t just an actress—she’s also a doctor and has been advocating for nature conservation and species protection for years. We met at a nature conference she organized in Munich. Afterward, I invited her to visit our medicinal plant garden in Schwäbisch Gmünd. She was thrilled by biodynamic farming. We got into a very deep conversation—and realized that we’re a perfect match. She’s a role model for many women. And from a purely business perspective: When she represents Weleda, sales go up.
Jorberg: In addition to filming the TV show Tatort [Crime scene] for German public television conglomerate ARD, she also filmed a wonderful documentary about biodiversity. It’s about how to transform urban gardens into havens of biodiversity.
Hurter: That’s a wonderful example of how, when you get to know someone, you realize that your values and goals line up. That brings us back to the potential of the Weleda brand.
Jorberg: To add to what Tina said, yes, it’s important that, in these contradictory times we live in, we show that there’s another way. So, we’re dealing with the question of whether sunflowers are grown organically or biodynamically. At the same time, we recently discussed in our meeting how a certain substance breaks down at the wastewater treatment plant. How can we consistently think through a process from start to finish and turn it into successful sales and a successful brand? Everyone is calling for natural medicine. About 70 percent of people actually want natural medicine—and the system certainly does too. After all, many medications cause threefold harm: in production, side effects, and waste. In that respect, we have potential here. The point is to make it clear that while our work is inspired by anthroposophy, it is not intended only for anthroposophists. We haven’t gotten that far yet in the field of medicine. We make medicine for everyone. The challenge—and the vision—is that we will succeed in the pharmaceutical sector as well in making anthroposophic medicine accessible to all. And that’s where we reach our limits; that’s where we have to push the boundaries. Development always takes place at boundaries. It’s contradictory: There are people who say, “But what you’re doing is completely impossible; it’s nothing like the original anymore.” Maybe they’re right; maybe not. But if we don’t push the boundaries, we won’t be able to pull it off.
Hurter: The two anchor shareholders are still Clinic Arlesheim and the Anthroposophical Society. If we look at the bigger picture now—not just Weleda—it is a daughter of the great mother, anthroposophy. After 100 years, it has come of age, hasn’t it? Or, perhaps, we could say she’s become independent and is now doing things her mother didn’t quite envision. And that’s why I hope that this daughter—this proud, beautiful, and sometimes a bit difficult daughter—will inspire and influence the mother, anthroposophy. This openness, this democratization, this determination not to cater to a small, internal target group but to all “open-minded” and “open-hearted” people should have a positive impact on anthroposophy.
Müller: The rejuvenation of Weleda as a driving force for the rejuvenation of anthroposophy.
Jorberg: I believe anthroposophy should do more to convey what is universally human—which is, after all, its core. One can only experience anthroposophy in practice on a personal level, and we at Weleda do just that—with half a billion euros in revenue and millions of customers. That can’t be achieved through personal encounter; rather, it must be embedded in the brand and the product. Our challenge is to ensure—and we are succeeding—that people within the anthroposophical community love Weleda because of its anthroposophical background, and that others love Weleda despite its anthroposophical background. Both should be possible.
Tina Müller, where do you feel the strongest connection to anthroposophy at Weleda?
Müller: In our medicines. And in what defines anthroposophic medicine—for me, that is a distinctly modern form of medicine. Because it’s holistic. Because it considers the physical body, soul, and spirit as a unified whole. People today are seeking this unity more than ever. We now know that causes of bodily ailments are often rooted in the soul, and that mental strength helps us to become healthy and stay healthy. We also know that health radiates outward. And when spirit and soul are in harmony—which is a real challenge, especially today—then we have reached the highest level.
Thank you for the conversation!
Translation Joshua Kelberman
Title image Tina Müller, photo: Eliza Rozeboom
