Sephora

Summary

Founded in Limoges in 1970 and currently based in Paris, Sephora is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH since 1997. The French multinational company retails nearly three thousand brands, astride with its own private label, including cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail paint, haircare and beauty tools.

History

French multinational retailer Sephora has transformed the way women shop for personal care and cosmetics and giving the traditional department store counter solid competition. Owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton today.. Sephora was founded in France by Dominique Mandonnaud in 1970 and is defined by its unique open-sell environment with an assortment of products from carefully curated brands including Sephora’s own line.

Sephora’s ascent has a lot to do with Mandonnaud’s business acumen and approach to merchandising. The “assisted self-service” experience encouraging consumers to test products before purchase has evolved Sephora into a powerful global brand. And- with wall-to-wall lipsticks- lotions- highlighters- perfumes—what’s not to love? Before Sephora- the standard operation model was of products locked in cases! Of course considerable credit also goes to its continually evolving offering including prolific brands like NARS- Make Up For Ever- Urban Decay- Lancôme- Jo Malone London- YSL Beauty- Huda Beauty and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics among others..  niche brands like Bare Essentials- Benefit and vegan make-up Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics.. and its own line of make-up- skincare and beauty tools.

What reels shoppers back? Color IQ — Sephora and Pantone Universe’s foundation-matching technology that allows each shopper to find the right foundation for her skin tone. And- with travel being an intrinsic part of our lifestyle- Sephora has a section for travel-compliant minis: Beauty On The Fly. Since the acquisition LVMH invested substantially in Sephora and expanded the beauty retain chain worldwide. Shortly Sephora collaborated with Marc Jacobs to launch a colour cosmetics collection -Marc Jacobs Beauty- creating new synergies within LVMH which owns both companies.

On 1 January 2014 Calvin McDonald replaced David Suliteanu as President and CEO of Sephora Americas. Per WWD: Calvin McDonald -president and chief executive officer of Sears Canada- will take the helm of Sephora Americas… as president and ceo. He will succeed David Suliteanu who will return to his entrepreneurial roots as ceo of Kendo Brands- an LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned brand-creation incubator that Suliteanu earlier had established.

Sephora opened its first United States store in New York in 1998, its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004 and the first Australian Sephora store in 2014. Its North American headquarters is in New York with corporate offices in San Francisco and Montréal. Today the chain operates over 2,700 stores worldwide. In 2020 Martin Brok succeeded Chris de Lapuente as President and CEO of Sephora.

Its philanthropic arm- Sephora Stands- is doing a lot to make the beauty space more inclusive and diverse by supporting women-owned brands with its beauty incubator Accelerate which teaches makeup application to cancer patients and the transgender community and developing a support network for employees suffering from domestic violence. Sephora has a diversity and inclusion mission: To never stop championing all beauty fearlessly and building inclusive environments for our employees, consumers, and communities. In 2020 Sephora launched “Diversity and Inclusion Heart Journey” to support its vision of becoming the Diversity- Inclusion- and Equity Champion in the retail industry.

Post- pandemic Sephora has a strong presence on the Internet. There are special offers that make online shopping rewarding. Throughout 2020 the retail chain announced strategic partnerships to increase the ways clients can shop with ease including collaborations with global payment and shopping providers like AfterPay- Klarna- Instacart- Reserve Online- Pick Up In Store on its app and portal. So is it a wonder that Women’s Wear Daily named Sephora specialty retailer of the year?

Mission Statement

“We believe beauty is for each person to define and ours to celebrate. Together, we support and encourage bold choices in beauty—and in life. Our purpose is to inspire fearlessness.”

Vision

Beautifying people’s lives is a full-time challenge that Sephora’s team members tackle every day to achieve the brand vision of enabling consumers to unleash their creativity aided by the brand’s disruptive spirit. Sephora also envisions becoming the Diversity- Inclusion- and Equity Champion in the retail industry.

Awards and Recognition

Sephora’s sustainable initiatives were recognized in December 2015. The company received the Sustainable Brand label as well as the 2015 R Award for eco-design by the Génération Responsible association.

Brands

Sephora features a variety of beauty products from more than 300 brands, including NARS Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever, Too Faced Cosmetics, One Size, Fenty, Milk, Bite Beauty, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Coto Beauty, Urban Decay, Benefit Cosmetics, First Aid Beauty, Lancôme Cosmetics, Sunday Riley Skincare, philosophy, Jo Malone London, Atelier Cologne, YSL Beauty by Yves Saint Laurent, Tatcha, Huda Beauty, Kat Von D, and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Sephora also features its own make-up, skincare, beauty tools and accessories under the brand name Sephora Collection. Packaging for the line previously featured the company’s elongated flame logo in standard black print. The new logo features the updated “Sephora Quality, Really Good Price” logo with the $ sign. In 2010, the company debuted fragrance collections with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, known as Elizabeth and James, and a makeup line with Marc Jacobs. On 25th June 2020, Maddie Ziegler’s imagination collection collaborated with Morphe launched in Sephora Canada.

Awards and Services

Sephora’s sustainable initiatives were recognized in December 2015. The company received the Sustainable Brand label as well as the 2015 R Award for eco-design by the Génération Responsible association. Sephora has also been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers four years in a row from 2018-2021. From 2019-2021 Sephora scored 100 per cent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Quality Index- the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBTQ+ employees.

Leadership Team

Guillaume Motte (Global President and CEO of Sephora)
Jean-André Rougeot (President and CEO of Sephora Americas)
Christophe Le Boterff ( Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer)

References

• Official website Sephora
• Sephora Sharpens Tech Edge MediaPost
• Is Sephora Becoming High Fashion’s Next Target? Time
• How to Shop the Company’s Largest Store in the U.S. Allure
• Sephora’s first UK store Cosmopolitan
• Shop Sephora in the UAE Expat Woman
• Facebook page of Sephora Facebook
• Instagram page of Sephora Instagram
• Sephora: Department Stores Cannot Stop Its Global Growth Forbes
• Twitter page of Sephora Twitter
• Youtube channel of Sephora Youtube
• Calvin McDonald Named CEO of Sephora Americas WWD
• LinkedIn page of Sephora LinkedIn
• Snapshot of Sephora Sephora
• Sephora receives Responsible Brand label and 2015 R Award LVMH
• Afterpay and Sephora Partner Sephora
• Sephora expands in Middle East with new stores across GCC Gulf Business
• Sephora’s Magnificent Mile store has new high-tech look Chicago Tribune
• Wiki page of Sephora Wikipedia
• Sephora purchases FeelUnique Beauty Matter