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Sephora

Coordinates: 47°08′30″N 2°15′35″E / 47.141791°N 2.2598276°E / 47.141791; 2.2598276
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For the insect genus, see Sephora (bug).

Sephora SA
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryCosmetics
Founded1969; 55 years ago (1969) in Paris, France[1]
FounderDominique Mandonnaud[1]
Headquarters41 Rue Ybry, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
47°08′30″N 2°15′35″E / 47.141791°N 2.2598276°E / 47.141791; 2.2598276
Number of locations
2,700 stores[1]
Areas served
34 countries worldwide
Key people
Guillaume Motte (CEO)
Products
RevenueIncreaseOver US$10 billion (2019) (estimated)[2]
ParentLVMH
Websitesephora.com

Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands[3] alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty tools, body products, and hair care items.

The company was founded in Limoges, France in 1969[4] and is currently based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.[5] Since 1996,[6][7] Sephora has been owned by the luxury conglomerate LVMH.

History

[edit]
Sephora, Passage du Havre, Paris

Sephora was first launched in Paris in August 1970. It is named after the biblical figure Zipporah (French: Séphora), wife of Moses.[8]

In 1993, Dominique Mandonnaud acquired Sephora and merged it with his own perfume chain under the Sephora brand. Mandonnaud is credited with designing and executing Sephora's "assisted self-service" sales experience, which distinguished itself from standard retail models for cosmetics by encouraging its primarily female customer base to test products in retail locations before purchasing them.[9][10]

Mandonnaud continued to expand the Sephora brand through the 1990s, opening its flagship store in Champs Élysées in 1997. In July 1997, Mandonnaud and his partners sold Sephora to LVMH, which expanded the stores globally and bolstered the chain's products to include beauty and cosmetic products.[6] Sephora extended its operations to the Middle East markets in 2007 and has opened over 44 stores UAE and KSA stores, as well as an e-commerce store.[11][12] It continues to extend its partnership with exclusive brands in the region.[11]

In October 2023, Artemis Patrick was named president of Sephora North America with the understanding that she would also be CEO once her predecessor, Jean-André Rougeot, retired. [13] In April 2024, Patrick was announced as president and chief executive officer of Sephora North America. She is the first female CEO of Sephora North America. [14]

Sephora opened its first United States store in New York City in 1998, its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004, and the first Australian Sephora store in 2014.[15][16] Its North American headquarters is located in New York City, with corporate offices in San Francisco and Montréal. Sephora currently operates over 430 stores across North America.[17]

Sephora in Union Station, Toronto, Ontario

On 26 August 2016, Sephora opened its 400th location in North America on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. The store was the city's new flagship location.[18]

On 31 March, 2017, Sephora opened its largest retail location in North America near Herald Square in New York City. The store is approximately 11,380 square feet and features over 13,000 products. It is one of six Sephora TIP Workshop locations, with interactive services and tools, in North America; the others include San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Santa Clara Valley, and Toronto.[19][20][21]

On 19 November, 2018, Sephora signed a long-term lease at Thor Equities’ Town Square Metepec, a new retail and entertainment center in Mexico totaling 1.7 million square feet.[22]

In April 2019, R&B singer SZA accused the store of racial profiling. On May 23, 2019, Sephora announced they would be closing all locations on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, to hold diversity training for its staff.[23] However, the staff training was a part of their "We Belong To Something Beautiful Campaign" and not the accusations from the singer.[citation needed] The planning and training for this campaign began in late 2019.[citation needed]

On July 26, 2021, Sephora agreed with Palamon Capital Partners the purchase of Feelunique.com,[24][25] a UK online retailer of prestige beauty goods founded in 2005, with 1.3 million active customers from 120 countries and more than 35,000 products from over 800 brands.[26] It had been acquired from Palamon Capital Partners for £26 million in 2012.[27] The price was rumored to be £132 million.[28]

In July 2024, Sephora introduced a summer-themed pop-up in partnership with body care brand Sol de Janeiro.[29]

Operations

[edit]

Sephora launched its online store in the U.S. in 1999 and in Canada in 2003.[15] The Canadian head office was opened in February 2007 by Marie-Christine Marchives, a former Sephora U.S. and Sephora France employee. Marie-Christine Marchives returned to France in July 2010 to become the general manager of Sephora France. She was replaced in Canada by Klaus Ryum-Larsen. Sephora currently operates over 2,300 stores in 33 countries worldwide,[30] generating over an estimated $4 billion in revenue as of 2013.[6][31] As of September 2013, the Sephora at Champs Élysées in Paris, France, attracts over six million people a year.[32] Afterpay and Sephora partnered to offer its customers the flexibility to pay in four installments on July 13, 2022.[33]

Sephora Canada opened its 100th store in Canada in November 2022.[34]

In 2024, Sephora confirmed the opening of its fourth UK store at Newcastle upon Tyne's Eldon Square Shopping Centre.[35]

Sephora storefront in Dalma Mall

Brands

[edit]

Sephora features a variety of beauty products from more than 300 brands, including Tatcha,[36] Huda Beauty, and Bobbi Brown.[37] 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 2013, the company included fragrance collections from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, known as Elizabeth and James, essential oil fragrances Vanilla Crush and Jewel by Coto Beauty Cosmetics, and a makeup line with Marc Jacobs.[38] In June 2020, Maddie Ziegler's imagination collection collaborated with Morphe, launched in Sephora Canada.[39] In 2023, Sephora became the first retailer of feminine hygiene and cosmetic product Luna Daily in the United States.[40][41]

Sephora inside JCPenney

[edit]

In October 2006, Sephora began opening stores inside JCPenney. Sephora inside JCPenney features some of the same makeup, skincare, and fragrance brands as well as its own product line found in stand alone stores nationwide. Sephora inside JCPenney stores are much smaller than a normal store, usually 1,500 sq ft in size.[42] As of 2017, there were more than 600 Sephora locations in JCPenney stores across the US.[6][43][30] That same year, JC Penney announced the closing of 138 stores nationwide, several of which house a Sephora in JCPenney store.[44]

Sephora inside Kohl's

[edit]

In December 2020, Sephora announced that it would begin opening Sephora stores inside Kohl's locations. The announcement included plans to launch Sephora at 850 Kohl's stores by 2023.[45] The first four Sephora inside Kohl's locations opened on August 6, 2021.[46] By 2023, Sephora at Kohl’s has surpassed $1.4 billion in sales and sales projection for 2025 is more than $2 billion. In summer 2024, Sephora at Kohl's will be adding approximately 140 small-format shops in 40 states, bringing the total number of shops to more than 1,000.[47]

Subscription service

[edit]

In August 2015, it was announced that Sephora would launch a subscription service: Play! By Sephora. The monthly subscription service offers boxes containing sample size products for a monthly fee.[48] Boston, Columbus, and Cincinnati were the only three cities to test the initial service launch in September 2015. The service was launched throughout the US in 2016.[49]

For $10 USD billed monthly, each month’s box is a collectable bag that changes each month with five deluxe skincare, makeup, or haircare samples. Each box includes a selection of products based on answers provided by the customer in PLAY! profile.[50]

Sephora terminated PLAY! in April 2020, replacing it with Sephora Luxe. Like Play!, Luxe gives the opportunity to sample products, but Luxe is ordered monthly and is not a subscription service.

Sephora UAE,BAHRAIN AND KSA

[edit]

Sephora UAE and KSA are regional subdivisions of Sephora. The Middle East head office was opened in February 2006 by Pierre Fayard. Since 2007, over 30 separate Sephora stores have opened across the Middle East region (UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait). Sephora UAE and KSA provide make up and skincare products from notable brands such as Christian Dior and Laura Mercier[51][52] in a high tech contemporary retail environment.[53] Sephora’s first Middle East store opened at Seef Mall in Bahrain on 7 January 2007 followed by Festival City, UAE on 1 March 2007 with a further 30 stores opening across the region since.[51] The Sephora store in the Dubai Mall opened in December 2008 and is now[when?] ranked as the company’s number one store worldwide. In 2007, the late Sephora CEO, Jacques Levy expressed a desire to have 100 stores open across the region by 2010. A year later the international financial crisis derailed these ambitions. Levy stepped down in 2011 and died a year later.[54] Despite this early setback Sephora have opened more than 30 more stores and introduced online shopping to the region in November 2016.[55][56] In December 2017, Sephora opened Gifts Beauty Park, the world's first beauty theme park, in Dubai.[57] The pop-up store featured fairground and makeup themed games and invited shoppers to sit down with professional Sephora makeup artists to experience the products.[57] In March 2018, Guillaume Motte was announced as the new president of Sephora Europe and Middle East.[58]

Products

[edit]

Sephora's Middle East stores stock international products alongside local brands such as Shiffa Dubai Skin Care and Huda Beauty.[59] According to Forbes, Huda Beauty, founded by Dubai based blogger and business woman Huda Kattan, was the top selling cosmetic brand across Sephora Middle East, in 2018.[60]

Acquisitions

[edit]

In 2000, Sephora.com purchased the assets of Eve.com for "high six-figures".[61]

Lawsuits

[edit]

On November 18, 2014, four customers filed a class action lawsuit against Sephora.[62] The suit alleges that Sephora engaged in racial discrimination by wrongfully deactivating the customer rewards accounts of Asian customers under the pretense that these customers were buying products from Sephora in bulk and reselling them.[63][64] Sephora identified accounts to deactivate by looking at email domains from @qq.com (owned by Tencent), @126.com, or @163.com (both owned by NetEase).[65]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "About Sephora".
  2. ^ "2019 Financials". 28 January 2020.
  3. ^ Wood Rudolph, Heather (19 February 2015). "Interview Insider: How to Get Hired at Sephora". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ Tungate, Mark (2011). Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look. Kogan Page. p. 188. ISBN 9780749461812.
  5. ^ Parsons, Sarah (27 November 2017). "A sneak peek inside Sephora's new international head office". Cosmetics Business. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Loeb, Walter. "Sephora: Department Stores Cannot Stop Its Global Growth". Forbes. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  7. ^ Born, Pete (24 October 2013). "Calvin McDonald Named CEO of Sephora Americas". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  8. ^ "La saga Sephora - L'Express Styles". 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Sephora Holdings S.A. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Sephora Holdings S.A." References for Business. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  10. ^ "The Sephora Saga". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Online Shopping In The UAE Is About To Get A Lot Better..." Emirates Woman. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Sephora Reveal The Best-Selling Beauty Products In The Middle East". Harpers Bazaar Arabia. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Artemis Patrick Named First Female President of Sephora North America, Primed for CEO Spot". Cosmetic Executive Women. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  14. ^ "Sephora's Trailblazing CEO: A New Era Of Female Leadership". Forbes. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  15. ^ a b "About Sephora". Sephora. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Sephora". New York. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  17. ^ "About Us | Sephora". sephora.com. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  18. ^ "Sephora's Magnificent Mile store has new, high-tech look". Chicago Tribune. 26 August 2016.
  19. ^ Panych, Sophia. "10 Hacks for Shopping the Largest Sephora in the United States". Allure. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  20. ^ Strugatz, Rachel (3 April 2017). "Experience Matters: Sephora Goes Bigger on 34th Street". WWD. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  21. ^ Zoldan, Rachel Jacoby. "Sephora Just Opened Its Biggest Store Ever, and It's Truly Insane". Glamour. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  22. ^ "Sephora signs lease at Thor Equities' Town Square Metepec in Mexico". propertyfundsworld. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  23. ^ Hollie Silverman, "SZA accusation prompts Sephora to close all locations Wednesday for diversity training", CNN, June 3rd, 2019
  24. ^ Conti, Samantha (18 July 2021). "Sephora Poised to Buy Britain's Feelunique.com: Report". MSN.
  25. ^ "Sephora finalise l'acquisition de Feelunique". Fashion Network. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  26. ^ "Sephora Acquires Feelunique". 26 July 2021.
  27. ^ Nazir, Sahar (18 July 2021). "Sephora Agrees £132m Takeover Bid For Feelunique As It Eyes UK market". Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  28. ^ "Sephora Confirms Purchase of Online Beauty Eetailer Feelunique". 26 July 2021.
  29. ^ "Sephora teams up with Sol de Janeiro on UK summer pop-up". Cosmetics Business. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  30. ^ a b "As Ulta Looks Prettier, Sephora Sharpens Tech Edge". mediapost.com. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  31. ^ "Sephora.com: About Us". Sephora. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  32. ^ MASIDLOVER, NADYA. "Paris Casts A Shadow Over Hours at Sephora". The Wall Street Journal.
  33. ^ "Afterpay and Sephora Partner to Make Prestige Beauty Accessible to More Customers – Sephora Newsroom". 12 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  34. ^ Sephora. "Sephora Canada marks milestone 100th store opening in Winnipeg, Manitoba with $100,000 donation to Native Women's Association of Canada and celebrations from coast-to-coast". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  35. ^ "Sephora chooses Newcastle for fourth UK store". Cosmetics Business. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  36. ^ "TATCHA Skin Care". Sephora. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  37. ^ "Kat Von D Beauty is launching a new program with Sephora that will allow you to snag new products before they hit stores". HelloGiggles. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  38. ^ "Beauty Boom: Is Sephora Becoming High Fashion's Next Target?". Time. 9 January 2013.
  39. ^ "Morphe x Maddie Ziegler The Imagination Collection | NEW & Exclusive Launch 2020". 22 June 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  40. ^ "Luna Daily enters the U.S., secures $3.7 million investment". fashionnetwork.com. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  41. ^ "FUNDRAISINGIntimate female care brand Luna Daily raises £3m as it launches into the US". The Grocer. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  42. ^ "About Us | Sephora". Sephora. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  43. ^ "Sephora inside jcp". Sephora.
  44. ^ Wahba, Phil. "J.C. Penney Is Closing These 138 Stores This Spring". Fortune.
  45. ^ Thomas, Lauren (1 December 2020). "Sephora will open mini shops inside 850 Kohl's stores by 2023, as retailer bets big on beauty". CNBC. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  46. ^ Tyko, Kelly. "Sephora at Kohl's locations are opening. See which stores are getting a makeover and when". USA TODAY. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  47. ^ "Sephora at Kohl's Surpasses $1.4 Billion in Sales, More than 100 New Shops to Open This Year". kohls.com. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  48. ^ Novellino, Teresa. "Birchbox is about to meet a French foe: Sephora". Biz Journals. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  49. ^ Malamut, Melissa (10 August 2015). "Boston Is One of Three Test Cities for the New Sephora Box". Boston. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  50. ^ "Sign up for Play! By Sephora - Monthly Beauty Subscription Box". sephora.com. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  51. ^ a b "About Us | Sephora UAE". Sephora. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  52. ^ "Buy Brands Online | Sephora UAE". Sephora. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  53. ^ "SEPHORA – 2point0 Concepts". 2point0concepts.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  54. ^ "Sephora expands in Middle East with new stores across GCC". Gulf Business. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  55. ^ "Sephora's Coming: Online Shopping In UAE Is About To Get Better". Emirates Woman. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  56. ^ "You Can Now Shop SEPHORA Online In The UAE!". ewmoda. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  57. ^ a b "Sephora UAE Launched Gifts Beauty Park at City Walk Dubai | insydo". insydodubai.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  58. ^ "Guillaume Motte to become President of Sephora Europe and Middle East". EPCnews - European Perfumery and Cosmetics NEWS. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  59. ^ "Inside Huda Kattan's Blog-to-Brand Beauty Empire". The Business of Fashion. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  60. ^ Sorvino, Chloe. "How Huda Kattan Built A Billion-Dollar Cosmetics Brand With 26 Million Followers". Forbes. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  61. ^ Miles, Stephanie. "Sephora.com Buys Assets of Defunct E-Tailer Eve.com". The Wall Street Journal.
  62. ^ "Sephora discriminated against Asian customers, lawsuit claims". Reuters. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  63. ^ "Civil Complaint" (PDF). PacerMonitor. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  64. ^ "Sephora Class Action Lawsuit". Sephora Class Action Lawsuit. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  65. ^ "COURT-AUTHORIZED NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT". Sephora Community. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
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