THE top boss of a popular beauty retailer has announced that major changes are underway to improve the shopping experience.
Over 700 Sephora stores will be impacted, with one key difference that millions of fans have requested.
Sephora is taking on its most expensive project, redesigning its fleet of over 700 North American stores (Getty)Beauty chain Sephora is redesigning its entire lineup of over 700 stores in North America, CEO Artemis Patrick shared at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show conference on Monday.
The largest capital project in the company’s history, Patrick noted it launched in the fall of 2024.
The project scope at each Sephora location will differ, with some stores undergoing “major” redesigns and others “minor.”
Although there isn’t an exact timeline for the redesigns, most will be completed throughout the next five years.
BIG CHANGES
Sephora is using multiple company insights as a basis for the renovations.
For example, the beauty retailer looked at heat maps to see how consumers moved around its stores and interacted with products.
Sephora also considered its gondolas, or shelving units used to display products, as Patrick cited them as expensive.
“We’re not a cheap date,” she said, “and we don’t want our brands to be spending a ton of money on building these amazing fixtures, and then it doesn’t work out.”
To avert this, the company began testing a format that makes it easier to update its stores, focusing on its key categories of makeup, skincare, fragrance, and haircare.
Sephora aimed to ensure that the shopping experience represents its current assortment while accommodating future product offerings.
The beauty retailer also made a key change many Sephora customers asked for.
After speaking with “millions of consumers,” Sephora designed a store format with its beauty studios positioned to the side, where customers were less visible.
“The reality is, [shoppers] didn’t want their makeup being done in the windows — not shocking — but they wanted more lighting,” said the CEO.
Sephora also took into account its checkout lines as part of its North American store redesign.
The company implements a winding “snake” line for checkout, permitting shoppers to browse and potentially buy mini products while they wait.
However, 25% of Sephora customers are being checked out by beauty advisers using mobile devices throughout the store.
Given the trend towards mobile checkouts, the beauty retailer is updating its store fixtures to be easier to move.
“We can actually break up the fixture and move it to the front if we wanted to, creating a much more agile footprint,” Patrick said.
Sephora History
Sephora, one of the top beauty retailers, was founded in Limoges, France by Dominique Mandonnaud.
Mandonnaud began his own fragrance shop named Shop 8 in 1969 and later merged it with Sephora in 1993.
Sephora launched its current name in 1995 and has been owned by LVMH, a luxury goods group, since 1997.
The company opened its first US store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood in 1998 and has since grown to over 2,700 stores across 35 countries.
“I think too many times retailers talk about the ‘store of the future’ and it’s very much driven by the design team. So you have this conversation of form versus function,” Patrick said, emphasizing that there was nothing wrong with that approach.
However, Sephora wanted to balance form and function, redesigning their stores to be visually appealing and highly functional.
The CEO also noted that the company hoped to achieve this balance in stores beyond its flagships to ensure a cohesive shopping experience at all its locations.
“We do believe we have that consistency with our beauty advisers, but maybe not necessarily in our retail stores,” she said.
Sephora has renovated 111 stores over the past few months, with these locations seeing a boost in key performance indicators, transactions, and productivity compared to the control group.
Other retail giants have major changes underway.
For example, the Target CEO promised that trendy and viral items will now get to stores faster.
Plus, the Walmart CEO revealed how the chain is using artificial intelligence to plan store changes.
One key change Sephora will make is relocating its beauty studios to the side, where customers are less visible (Getty) Read More Details
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