Sephora’s new UK store: three trends to inspire other beauty retailers

Sephora’s new retailer in Westfield White Metropolis, which opened on Wednesday eighth March 2023, marks its return to bodily retail within the UK after it stopped buying and selling right here in 2005. The opening follows the retailer’s takeover of FeelUnique’s web site in October 2022.

Investing in bodily area will assist Sephora, a fascia extra identified internationally, to spice up its visibility available in the market, as greater than three in 5 adults within the UK claimed that they had by no means used or heard of Sephora, as of November 2022. 

The retailer has clearly set excessive requirements for its future retailer roll-out plans, and so what can retailer based mostly retailers study from the brand new Sephora flagship retailer?

The shop is dropped at life by the in-store Magnificence Hub. Positioned within the centre of the shop, it includes a vary of various companies, carried out by each in-house Sephora consultants and model representatives. 

The vary {of professional} remedies is expansive, with an array of categorical skincare remedies on provide from specialists equivalent to Dermalogica and Elemis. When it comes to make-up companies, the retailer has taken a tiered method, with remedies starting from £30 for a ‘Function Focus’ appointment, as much as £60 for ‘Full Glam’. Providing a spread of worth factors will be certain that remedies are accessible for a variety of customers, significantly related for the likes of Sephora, which attracts a youthful viewers.

The shop adopts the texture of a ‘magnificence playground’, serving to to foster a vacation spot buying expertise. In addition to non-public label choices, Sephora gives a spread of unique manufacturers, equivalent to Make-up by Mario and Ariana Grande’s R.E.M Magnificence. While these could also be available for purchase on-line, one in 4 adults would usually go to a retailer to attempt a product earlier than buying a premium/luxurious branded magnificence and private care product they hadn’t used earlier than. Making these merchandise accessible in a bodily retail setting will allow customers to experiment with new merchandise earlier than shopping for, serving to to drive footfall.

The shop additionally options Sephora’s first ever lipstick bar, which covers an array of branded colors and finishes. An engraving service throughout perfume can be obtainable to in-store customers, providing a extra distinctive expertise for customers.

Past the product vary, an array of in-store applied sciences, equivalent to digital try-on’s and diagnostic instruments, are on provide to assist customers discover the best product for them. Branded shade finders from the likes of Lancôme can be found throughout color cosmetics, while Sephora colleagues are additionally on-hand to supply recommendation to these much less comfy utilizing these digital instruments.

The brand new opening is properly positioned to cater for the retailer’s goal demographic: Gen Z customers. A Sizzling On Social Media nook will resonate with these in youthful demographics who’re avid customers of platforms equivalent to TikTok and Instagram, which are sometimes key drivers behind magnificence merchandise going viral. Calling out trending merchandise in-store will assist customers in making the hyperlinks between the bodily expertise, and what they’ve seen on social media.

A fixture which highlights ‘The Subsequent Huge Factor’ when it comes to merchandise, additionally illustrates how the retailer is catering for his or her goal market, with youthful customers usually extra occupied with conserving tempo with magnificence traits.

The shop additionally features a fixture devoted to ‘Sephora Favourites’ that are value-orientated bins containing quite a lot of magnificence manufacturers. Sephora calls out the RRP for the entire contained merchandise, benchmarked towards the retailer’s cheaper worth. These bins are additionally themed, for instance, an ‘Iconic Feminine Founders’ choice is more likely to enchantment to feminine customers. A mix of speaking worth, mixed with highlighting essential causes, will resonate amid each a difficult financial setting, mixed with one whereby moral points are on the forefront of customers’ minds.

The opening, mixed with rumours round a future roll-out plan, is welcome information for the UK retail panorama, and follows on from different massive scale openings equivalent to Gymshark, which opened on London’s Regent Road in 2022, with this exercise aligning with the return of footfall following the pandemic.

Sephora’s enlargement into the UK follows the roll-out of H Magnificence shops, with each of those retailer ideas adopting a magnificence playground really feel, moderately than aligning with the likes of Boots and Superdrug which have a broader in-store providing past magnificence.