Presenting our findings at Douglas

On 29 October 2026, my classmates and I visited Douglas. But it was not an ordinary visit: we presented our work on Douglas data to the employees of Douglas. It sounds interesting, right? It was more than that. 

The course behind the project 

Thanks to Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, this was part of my Strategy & Performance Management course in the Master of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, taught by Prof. Mahlendorf. The course gave our class access to work on a project from the listed business questions to which Douglas is interested to know answers for and provided the data to work with. The curriculum itself is very interesting, with small class assignments to prompt different Large Language Models and share the outcomes with the class, drawing insights from the output. My favourite assignment is to build a simple agent whose true results the code can verify, then plant a misalignment through a non-prompt channel and run baseline and manipulated runs. But the project was the most fun part of the course. 

Our project 

Our group worked on web shop search behaviour analysis. We accessed the data using Snowflake, analysed it and compared the query output with the Douglas website. Then we formed our findings and recommendations. The professor was very kind and helpful throughout the project, and his valuable insights helped our team to form concrete recommendations. I want to thank him for all his efforts to build this curriculum and for his support. 

The day in Düsseldorf 

Let me talk about the most interesting and fun part: the day of presentations at Douglas in Düsseldorf. The day started with my classmates and me boarding the bus provided by Frankfurt School, together with the professor, to Düsseldorf. Upon arrival, we entered Douglas with a warm welcome from the employees. Lunch, arranged for us by Douglas, followed. It turned into more than just a lunch. It became a networking event where a simple hello turned into conversations about their work, day-to-day AI usage and work culture. We asked the Douglas employees questions filled with curiosity about working in a company that spans countries, and we received the same enthusiasm back, about our project and our master's. Everyone got comfortable, and then a quick presentation began, to answer our curious questions in more detail. They talked about the Douglas agenda, their employees and the company's history, and different employees briefly presented their roles and their work. 

The office tour 

Then came the tour. They kindly showed us their office, their work desks, fun corners, shoot rooms, the history wall and a Douglas shop. Walking through the office and seeing people at work gave us a little more insight into their work culture. The best part of the tour was the history wall, loudly stating the legacy that has been built over the years. A detail like this helps employees feel connected to the company's history and gives more meaning to their daily work. It gives each employee a sense of the legacy they are carrying forward. 

Presenting to the experts 

After the tour came the reason for our visit: the presentations. The room was filled with people who work with the data on a daily basis. It was filled with analysts, data scientists and experts in operations and business. I was quite nervous to present our group's findings to experts on that data. Even with all the work, the support from my team and a mock presentation with my professor, I still did not feel prepared enough. I mean, it's common to feel that way, right? But anyway, despite my nervousness, the presentation went well. Listening to my classmates present their projects was insightful and encouraged me to present well. It was fun to get the employees' feedback and their perspectives on our findings. All the work for the presentation felt worthwhile when we saw them curiously asking us about the findings and the methods we used. 

A memorable ending 

Before wrapping up, they gifted each of us a Douglas hoodie and a perfume, to make the day more memorable with a nice fragrance. Later, the class of 2027 smiled for a picture with the Douglas employees and our beloved professor, and we called it a day. But this is not the end of the blog. I want to end by remembering the day I met the Douglas CEO, through an event conducted by Frankfurt School. Listening to him talk about Douglas operations was a great opportunity. Now I went to the same company to present our group's findings, because of Frankfurt School. I once again thank my professor and Frankfurt School for creating a curriculum that brings us closer to working on real-world business problems.