Sephora is a French-founded chain of personal care and beauty stores that operate multi-nationally founded in Paris in 1969. Featuring nearly 300 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, nail color, and haircare. Sephora is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH as of 1997. The Sephora logo is a white "S"-shaped flame against a black background. The name comes from the Greek spelling of Zipporah (Greek: ???????, Sepph?ra), the most beautiful wife of Moses.
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History
Founding
Sephora first launched in Paris on August 14, 1969. It was acquired by Dominique Mandonnaud in 1993, who merged the purchase with his own perfume chain under the Sephora brand. Mandonnaud is credited for founding and implementing Sephora's "assisted self-service" sales experience, which departed from then-typical retail models for cosmetics by encouraging customers to try products in-store before purchasing.
Mandonnaud continued to expand the Sephora brand through the 1990s, opening up its flagship store in Champs Élysées in 1997. In July 1997, Mandonnaud and his partners sold Sephora to LVMH, who expanded the stores globally and bolstered the chain's product offerings to include beauty and cosmetic products.
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International expansion in the United States and Canada
Sephora opened its first United States store in New York City in 1998 and its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004. Its North American headquarters is located in San Francisco, with corporate offices in New York City and Montréal. Sephora currently operates over 360 stores across North America.
Online site
Sephora launched its online store to the U.S. in 1999 and into Canada in 2003. 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 generating over an estimated $4 billion in revenue as of 2013. As of September 2013, the Sephora at Champs Élysées in Paris, France, attracts over six million people a year.
Acquisitions
In 2000, Sephora.com purchased the assets of Eve.com for "high six-figures".
Awards
In 2010, Women's Wear Daily named Sephora the specialty retailer of the year.
Lawsuit
On 18 November 2014, four customers filed a class action lawsuit against Sephora. 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.
On 1 January 2014, Calvin McDonald replaced David Suliteanu as president and chief executive officer of Sephora Americas. Suliteanu was named CEO of Kendo Brands, another business in the LVMH portfolio.
In 2016, Sephora launched the Virtual Artist app, an augmented reality platform. By uploading a photo, the user can receive a virtual makeover, experimenting with different product and shade combinations.
Currently
In 26 August 2016, Sephora opened its 400th location in North America on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. The store is the city's new flagship location.
On 31 March 2017, Sephora opened its largest retail location in North America near Herald Square. The store is approximately 11,380 square feet and features over 13,000 products. It's 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.
Subscription service
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. Boston, Columbus, and Cincinnati were the only three cities to test the initial service launch in September 2015. The service launched throughout the US in 2016. As of 2018, the subscription service is still only available in the US.
For $10 USD billed monthly, each month's box is a collectible bag that changes each month with five deluxe skin care, makeup, or hair care samples. Each box includes a selection of products based on answers provided by customer in PLAY! profile.
Brands
Sephora features a variety of beauty products from more than 100 brands, including NARS Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever, Too Faced Cosmetics, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Urban Decay, Benefit Cosmetics, Amazing Cosmetics, First Aid Beauty, Lancôme Cosmetics, Sunday Riley Skincare, philosophy, 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. Packaging for the line features the company's elongated flame logo in standard black print.
In 2013, the company debuted fragrance collections with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, known as Elizabeth and James, and a makeup line with Marc Jacobs.
Sephora inside JCPenney
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. There are more than 600 Sephora locations in JCPenney stores across the US. In 2017, JC Penney announced the closing of 138 stores nationwide; several of which house a Sephora in JCPenney store.
Environmental record
Sephora's sustainable development 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. Global Cosmetic News reported that Sephora's newly launched display cases have a 30% lighter metal frame that will reduce CO2 emissions by 220 metric tons.
Global Presence
Sephora extended its operation to the Middle Eastern markets opening over 44 stores in UAE and KSA where it also launched its eCommerce stores. It extends its partnership with its exclusive brands in the region.
Honors
In March 2018, FastCompany named Sephora to the number 36 spot (of 50) on their list of "World's Most Innovative Companies", citing its expanded offering of broadly diverse and inclusive product lines like Fenty Beauty.
References
External links
- Sephora
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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