SEPHORA Pioneers New Retail Innovation with Launch of First Small-Format Concept Store

Boston Becomes Home to the Retailer’s Smallest Store in North America, Raising the Bar for Personalized Client Services

SEPHORA Pioneers New Retail Innovation with Launch of First Small-Format Concept Store (Photo: Business Wire)

SAN FRANCISCO--()--Known for its revolutionary rule-breaking spirit, SEPHORA continues to redefine the beauty experience mold with the opening of SEPHORA Studio, a new concept store with an unprecedented emphasis on artistry and skincare services contained within 2,000 square feet of selling space. On the heels of its largest North American store opening on Manhattan’s 34th Street, SEPHORA Studio breaks new ground as the retailer’s smallest footprint in the U.S. and first concept store of its kind. The Studio presents clients with an optimized store design and intimate format that fosters personalized connections between our clients and the store’s top-ranking beauty advisors. The Studio debuts on Boston’s famous high-end shopping destination, Newbury Street, on July 21st.

“In today’s retail environment where very little is constant and clients’ expectations are ever-evolving, one thing has remained true for SEPHORA: there is no better way to create meaningful connections with clients than through personalized experiences and a customized approach to beauty. We could not be more focused on that notion than we are with the opening of SEPHORA Studio,” said Calvin McDonald, President and CEO of SEPHORA Americas. “The Studio merges the best of an inclusive neighborhood retail environment with best-in-class digital tools that enable our expert beauty advisors to customize recommendations on an individual basis.”

SEAMLESS PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL EXPERIENCES
The SEPHORA Studio integrates a variety of digital tools to optimize client experiences before, during and after their store visit. Among them are digital welcome and service menu screens for easy navigation and self-help, and beauty advisors with mobilized devices that can quickly service clients with appointment check in, looking up their Beauty Insider status, and retrieving Sephora.com ratings and reviews on any product throughout the store. Additionally, SEPHORA Studio on Newbury will feature two convenient omnichannel product delivery options, Order In Store and Same Day Pick Up. Both delivery features offer ease and convenience for purchase of product not available at the Studio. With Order In Store, SEPHORA Beauty Advisors can place the client order through Sephora.com with complimentary standard shipping or reduced next day shipping. For those that may need products faster, SEPHORA Studio on Newbury will partner with SEPHORA Prudential Center as one of the first stores to offer Same Day Pick Up. Starting in October, Boston area clients can purchase on their device via the SEPHORA app and pick it up at SEPHORA Prudential Center the same day.

All the best digital-enhanced beauty services that SEPHORA is known for will continue to be available, including the new SEPHORA Digital Makeover Guide, which optimizes the client’s personal beauty service experience by capturing her product, application and look preferences from her makeover. A record of her makeover experience is then delivered to her via email for easy reference in the future, making learning and playing with beauty even more accessible, anytime.

UNPARALLELED SERVICE EXPERIENCES
All Studio consultants have the highest levels of certification employees can earn from SEPHORA. These expert artists will provide on-demand one-on-one services at the Beauty Studio, which features eight seats and four sinks to aide beauty services centered in the store, in close proximity to the entire color and skincare assortment. The Beauty Studio features all SEPHORA services, like private 45-minute Custom Makeovers and 15-minute Mini Facials and Mini Makeovers, all of which start with a comprehensive skin consultation using exclusive new digital tools like the Moisture Meter and Skincare IQ quiz to accurately assess skin and aid in the selection of a custom skincare regime prior to services.

Additionally, the Studio will be the first store to offer a new Beauty Studio Service, Custom Makeover Plus, a 75-minute Custom Makeover with the client’s choice of Skincare Consultation or Mini Facial, for the most comprehensive beauty education at SEPHORA. Other tools available to beauty advisors include the SEPHORA + Pantone Color IQ touchscreens for scientifically precise foundation, lip and concealer shade matching. SEPHORA Studio will also feature the first Studio Concierge, a specially appointed store consultant dedicated to guide, service and connect clients with our experts and digital features in store, aide with services, check-in, and assist with a range of client inquiries and needs.

TEACH, INSPIRE AND PLAY WITH BEAUTY
SEPHORA’s innovative retail concept designed to Teach, Inspire, Play will extend to the Studio by encouraging clients to freely test, try products from a curated selection of brands across prestige cosmetics, skincare, hair care and fragrance. SEPHORA Studio is a destination for iconic, cult and emerging prestige beauty brands, including makeup, skincare, haircare and fragrance such as Benefit, Bite Beauty, Bobbie Brown, Bumble and bumble, Caudalie, Drunk Elephant, Drybar, Fresh, Kat Von D Beauty, Milk Makeup, Ole Henriksen, Ouai, Sunday Riley, NARS and Verb. The Studio will offer clients a safe place to learn, play and master new looks with ongoing inspirational group learning-style SEPHORA Beauty Classes. Clients can drop by to check makeover availability or book a premium service at one of the eight beauty studio seats in advance using SEPHORA’s client reservation system available through Sephora.com/classes, SEPHORA mobile web, the SEPHORA app, and SEPHORA Reservation Assistant on Facebook Messenger.

To learn more about SEPHORA, please visit www.Sephora.com, or follow along @Sephora and #BeautyTogether

SEPHORA Studio
88 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
Grand Opening: July 21, 2017
Store Hours: Mon-Sat: 10am to 9pm, Sun: 12pm to 7pm

About Sephora
Sephora is a leader in global prestige retail, teaching and inspiring clients to play in a world of beauty. Sephora has earned its reputation with its expertise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit, and has been a pioneer in an unbiased approach to experiential retail since its debut in Paris in the early 1970’s. A year after its acquisition by luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 1997, Sephora expanded to North America with a revolutionary store model that broke the beauty experience mold, and continues to evolve today. Now with more than 430 stores in the Americas—including US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil—and over 600 inside JCPenney, Sephora has become a leading international beauty destination with over 2,300 locations in 33 countries, plus an award-winning website, and intuitive mobile apps. At Sephora, whether beauty is an obsession or part of a routine, clients have the opportunity to play with 14,000 products from 200 carefully curated brands, featuring indie darlings, emerging favorites, trusted classics, and Sephora’s own, SEPHORA COLLECTION. In store, the client can access personalized recommendations at the Beauty Studio through interactive technology like the IQ systems, and garner a new look with makeovers, complimentary classes, hands-on events, and one-on-one consultations, all assisted by Sephora’s expertly trained beauty advisors who offer unbiased advice on every brand, in every beauty category. Online clients interact with an inclusive beauty community on the award-winning Beauty Board, interactive Beauty Talk, and through social media @Sephora. On their mobile device, clients can get inspired to try new looks through groundbreaking digital innovations, like Sephora Virtual Artist, and access one-of-a-kind, mobile-first experiences, like The Beauty Uncomplicator and Swipe It Shop It. And Sephora Beauty Insider clients feed their beauty addiction with unique rewards and customized on-of-a-kind experiences. Sephora offers endless ways to explore beauty. With Sephora Stands, Sephora’s multi-pronged social impact program, the retailer continues to support its community and its people via Sephora Accelerate, Classes for Confidence and Sephora Stands Together. For the latest, visit Sephora.com

Contacts

For SEPHORA
Jamie Bracci, 212-546-8555
jbracci@devriesglobal.com

Social Media Profiles

Contacts

For SEPHORA
Jamie Bracci, 212-546-8555
jbracci@devriesglobal.com