A curated marketplace changes what reviews are for
Douglas does not let anyone sell. Partners are admitted through an application to its Partner Program, and the catalogue is curated to match a premium beauty positioning. That has an odd consequence: the usual marketplace race — undercut everyone, hope the buy box notices — is largely off the table.
What is left is presentation and proof. Two approved partners listing comparable products compete on the page itself, and the most visible difference between them is usually the review count sitting under the star rating.
Beauty buyers also read reviews differently from buyers in other categories. They are not checking whether the item arrives; they are looking for someone with their skin, their hair, their colouring, who said it worked. Volume matters here because it is what makes it likely that such a person is in the list at all.
Six countries, six sets of expectations
Douglas runs each country as its own channel, with its own language, pricing and delivery expectations. A German buyer and a Polish buyer are not the same audience and should not receive the same message translated word for word.
Merita sends per channel: the message goes out in the buyer's language, and the timing is calculated from that specific order's delivery event rather than from an average.
The ask
One message, after delivery, through the marketplace's own buyer messaging. Nothing offered in return, no steering towards a positive rating, and orders with a complaint or an open return excluded automatically. On our live client, asking at the right moment took review collection from roughly 1 in 100 delivered orders to about 5 in 100.