What would Sephora's return mean for UK beauty retail? - Retail Gazette (2024)
Between 2000 and 2005, a total of six Sephora stores opened up in the UK, the first of which opened in Bluewater, Kent.
However, the world-renowned beauty retailer ultimately shuttered its UK estate by the end of May in 2005.
Although it was rumoured in 2019 that Sephora would be opening a store in Westfield London shopping centre – the rumours turned out to be just that as the idea never materialised.
Back in 2014, British fans were able to get their hands on Sephora goods as the company announced it added an option for UK shipping to its website. But Sephora stopped shipping to the UK in 2018 as new GDPR rules were implemented.
Fast forward to this year, and it looks like Sephora might finally have a proper (and yet another) crack at the UK market. It recently signed an agreement to purchase British online beauty retailer Feelunique.
This transaction, which values Feelunique at £132 million, is subject to clearance by anti-trust authorities and is expected to be closed in the coming months.
Although Sephora launched in 1970 in France, Mary Curran-Hacket, in her book The Sephora Story, writes that the retailer was actually the name of a chain stores owned and operated by Boots. Indeed, duringone of Boots’ expansion periods, it purchased a chain of cosmetic stores and named it Sephora in 1970.
However, there is absolutely no mention of this on the Boots website and there is no history of an owner of this chain prior to 1970. In 1993, Sephora’s current owner Dominique Mandonnaud, through his investor, purchased Sephora from Boots for the equivalent of £44 million.
At the time, Boots owned a total of 38 Sephora-branded chain stores in the Paris area. The Sephora chains under Boots control in France ran their stores like they did in Boots UK stores, offering high-end luxury items alongside mass market goods.
In 1997, Sephora was sold to French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which expanded the stores globally and the chain also included beauty and cosmetic products.The Sephora franchise was subsequently branched out online to reach consumers in 34 countries across Europe, the Americas, Middle East and Asia.
Mandonnaud is credited for designing and executing Sephora’s “assisted self-service” sales experience, which separated itself from standard retail models for cosmetics by encouraging customers to test products in-store before purchasing.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, this experience-based sales technique had arguably driven Sephora’s success.
The UK’s beauty industry is worth a whopping £27 billion as of 2020, according to comparison platformFinder.The UK is also among the three leading cosmetic consumers in Western Europe, behind France and Germany, Statista reported last year.
The cosmetics boom in the UK started in 2017, when the sector’s market value reached a staggering £9.8 billion. Its market value has since remained above £9 billion.
The UK’sbeauty retail market is currently dominated by two high street competitors, Boots and Superdrug. Both are widespread and popular, offering loyalty schemes and advantage cards in the health and beauty battle for returning customers.
Sephora president and chief executive, Martin Brok said the Feelunique purchase was “a key step in Sephora’s European growth strategy and marks a first step for Sephora’s presence into the UK”.
“UK consumers have a strong appetite for a carefully curated Prestige Beauty offer that is tailored to their needs, and provided through a consumer-centric, seamless experience,” he said.
Feelunique chief executive Sarah Miles told Retail Gazette that the company was looking forward to working together and “leverage our respective strengths to drive the Prestige beauty segment in the UK”.
Simon Dale, account director at digital agency Organic, said the purchase of Feelunique by Sephora did raise some questions.
“We may potentially see a migration of Feelunique to Sephora, or the running of both together,” he said.
“We may potentially see a migration of Feelunique to Sephora, or the running of both together”
“Both have their advantages and potentially different audiences. In any case, Feelunique should expect some change in targeting/range and performance.”
Meanwhile,Melissa Minkow, retail industry lead at digital consultancy CI&T, expects the deal to add “status and strength” to the Feelunique brand.
“The Sephora brand brings with it high consumer expectations, so as long as the Feelunique brand evolves and updates to reflect this transaction, Feelunique’s positioning will be elevated,” she said.
Minkow added that Sephora was smart to leverage an existing brand with a strong reputation versus trading on their own in the UK.
“The UK beauty market is quite saturated as is, and is largely dominated by heritage retailers. As a mid-priced retailer, Sephora would face the same challenges other mid-priced retailers have been facing,” she argued.
“The most strategic way to enter the UK market would be to add some of the missing brands to the Feelunique platform that the US Sephora platform carries, since Sephora has such a strong presence in the US, and UK shoppers are very aware of that.”
Although the UK’s beauty market is saturated, Sephora can capitalise on the high number of consumers.
Dale said there was clearly a lot of competition for the manufacturers, but this was an opportunity for a massive reseller like Sephora to come into the market and make a huge impact.
Minkow argued that althoughestablished retailers such as Mac and Boots have a strong hold on the UK beauty market, they should feel threatened by Sephora’s arrival.
“UK shoppers have long hoped for and awaited Sephora’s presence, so this deal will draw big business for Feelunique,” she told Retail Gazette.
“Sephora is one of the most innovative retailers in the industry. This entrance into the UK market will push previous UK giants to modernise their business models.”
Sephora left the UK in 2005, having opened only a handful of stores in the market. Sources claimed that high rents and tough competition led to its exit, but it's fair to say consumers have missed it. In 2021, in a prelude to its return, Sephora acquired online beauty retailer Feelunique in a £132 million deal.
Sephora opened the doors to its first London store on Wednesday 8 March 2023 at 11am in Westfield White City, London. Over 6,000 square feet, the beauty hall showcases an incredible range of products from over 135 brands, including Drunk Elephant, ILIA, Dior and Jo Malone - not to mention Sephora's own collection.
Due to recently enacted data privacy regulations, Sephora clients in the UK and Netherlands will now be directed to Sephora France's website, Sephora.fr. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused.
The move comes just over a year after Sephora bought Feelunique as a first step into the UK market. Feelunique, founded in 2005 by Aaron Chatterly and Richard Scheissl, saw high demand during the pandemic when shoppers moved online to buy beauty products.
Can I ship internationally? Yes, Sephora ships internationally at this time. For delivery to Canada, please consult Canadian shipping information on www.sephora.ca .
"Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause!" In a statement to Allure, Sephora confirmed the change: “Due to recently enacted data privacy regulations, Sephora clients in the UK and Netherlands will now be directed to Sephora France's website, Sephora.fr,” a rep said.
Sephora Is Going Through Major Changes But Demand Remains Strong. The chain has been crafting a new course after LVMH appointed Guillaume Motte as Sephora's president and CEO last November. Over the last year, the wider Sephora brand has been experimenting with different concepts in a changing retail landscape.
Between 2008 and 2012, there was a gradual decline in the number of specialist cosmetic and toiletry stores in the UK, with only 799 operating in 2012. Since then, the number of stores for the retail sale of cosmetic and toilet articles has grown, reaching 1,843 stores in 2020.
Other competitors of the sephora.com in April 2023: ulta.com, with 24.6M visits, 80 authority score, 53.92% bounce rate. byrdie.com, with 17.5M visits, 83 authority score, 83.82% bounce rate. allure.com, with 12.6M visits, 83 authority score, 88.35% bounce rate.
Keen shoppers of makeup, fragrance, skincare, haircare, and wellness can download the Sephora app available on IOS and Android via the Sephora website.
For example, I compared prices for the UK brand Charlotte Tilbury in anticipation of an upcoming trip to London. Factoring in currency exchange and the sales tax I will pay in North America to the UK price which already has VAT added, the price is practically identical.
comfortable shopping for makeup without people trying to sell them samples every ten seconds. Ulta's revenue continues to grow in the US, and you can also shop Ulta online from the States, but there are no Ulta stores in the UK or London. What is this?
Severe economic conditions in Japan were cited as the biggest hurdle for carrying out Sephora's expansion plans there. When Sephora opened its first Japanese door — a 10,300-square-foot, three-level perfumery on the Ginza in November 1999 — the company's five-year plan included more than 40 doors throughout Japan.
The Sephora logo has some sophistication in it. First of all, it is black and white. This color combination adds to the elegancy created by the flame symbol. It also gives the message of professionalism ‒ the company knows how to make and deliver beauty products.
That means you can use the card virtually everywhere in the world. The Sephora Credit Card has a 3% foreign transaction fee, which means you will incur extra charges for international purchases. This card also offers 4% back in reward dollars at Sephora and 1% on all other purchases.
Yes, sending cosmetics overseas is possible depending on the type of products and route. Many customers send makeup items such as lipstick or high-end lip gloss as a gift.
JCPenney Beauty, the retailer's own beauty department it created to replace departing Sephora in-store shops, is ready to be rolled out to hundreds of stores. Starting in October, JCPenney said it will add JCPenney Beauty to 300 stores by early 2023 and then 300 more by spring 2023.
JCPenney settled a legal dispute with Sephora in May 2020 after the department store accused Sephora of attempting to back out of its long-term contract early. After the two parties renegotiated, Sephora announced its new partnership with Kohl's in December 2020.
Sephora didn't renew its 15-year contract with JCPenney and moved its in-store shops to Kohl's, which has said it plans to put Sephora in all 1,100 of its stores. About 600 are open now. Target has been adding Ulta Beauty in-store shops to its stores.
In the UK, Beauty Bay has become the leading beauty and skincare retailer. High street favourites Boots and Superdrug rank second and third, followed by online stores Cult Beauty and Sephora, who are tied for fourth place (although the latter will be opening its first UK store in London this spring).
Boots.com is the online shop with the highest eCommerce net sales that is selling products in the Beauty e-commerce market in the UK, with a revenue of US$597 million in 2021 generated in the UK, followed by lookfantastic.com with US$287 million.
It's not a standalone shop, but it's part of Galeria Kaufhof, one of the biggest department store chains in Germany. It still has the same branding, and carries the Sephora brand products, but the store is more of a subset in Galeria Kaufhof, only carrying items that's not in the Galeria Kaufhof's perfumerie.
Owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury goods group, Sephora has earned its reputation as a beauty trailblazer with its expertise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit.
The partnership allows Sephora to expand beyond malls and into suburbs and Kohl's to sell higher-end beauty products. Each mini-store is staffed by Kohl's employees trained by Sephora to be beauty experts on the more than 125 individual products they'll sell.
If you're looking for more prestigious brands and sophisticated employees who are true makeup connoisseurs, Sephora has the edge. But if you're looking for one-stop shopping that includes salon services and drugstore brands alongside a more relaxed environment, Ulta Beauty should top your list.
Sephora gets its name from a blend of two words. The first is the Greek word "sephos," which means "pretty," and the second is the name "Zipporah" who, according to the Bible, was the wife of Moses known for her beauty. Photo courtesy of Nelson Cupeles.
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Open now, Westfield London is the first bricks and mortar location for Sephora in its return to the UK market. The new 6,000+ sq ft space showcases "an exceptional assortment of products and personal services", claims Sephora.
The White Oaks Sephora store is London's home for all things beauty! Located at 1105 Wellington Road, White Oaks Sephora carries your favourite makeup, skincare, haircare, and fragrance products.
By 1976, Boots had expanded the perfume business, launching the Sephora brand in partnership with department store group Nouvelles Galeries. That company became part of Boots PLC in 1979.
LVMH-owned Sephora announced the acquisition of Feelunique back in July 2021, taking on its 35,000-strong product cosmetic and fragrance portfolio and 1.3 million active customers.
We operate over 2,700 stores in 35 countries worldwide, with an expanding base of over 500 stores across the Americas, and a world-class ecommerce site.
When California fined the beauty brand this summer, it was the first enforcement action under the California Consumer Privacy Act. The state said Sephora illegally sold consumers' personal data using third-party trackers to get targeted ads and discounts on analytics.
In short, MAC is a competitor to several brands which Sephora sells. Now, this isn't to say that that won't change in the future, if MAC is expanding their business and Sephora is interested in having the brand in their stores.
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