Sephora opened its doors at Oberoi Mall, Goregaon, Mumbai recently. Spread across 3,130 square feet, the store is located on the ground level of one of the city’s buzzing retail hubs in the suburbs. With presence in cities such as New Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Pune, this is Sephora’s 17th store in the country.
Talking about the brand journey Vivek Bali, Chief Operating Officer – Sephora India at Arvind Beauty Brands in an exclusive talk with Indiaretailing.com shares, “It’s been a very strong journey for Sephora with a fantastic response from the millennial customers. I am very proud to say that Sephora is the No.2 searched brand for millennial. So when we opened the physical stores in India with the right assortment of brands matching the Indian skin types it brought in an overwhelming response. We are different and we have brands which nobody has. We continue to promise the customer about 6-10 new brand additions every year which we will be exclusively available at Sephora. We have started our journey in the urban centers as 60 percent of the business comes from here. Balance 40 percent comes from the Tier II and III cities which are very important. Sephora will be embarking its journey in Tier II cities this year. We are registered a double digit growth with Sephora.”
Like all the other Sephora stores in the city, this store too carries the retailer’s popular in-house and exclusive range across make-up, skin-care, fragrances, bath and body categories as well as beauty accessories. The collections include well-known names in beauty such as Sephora Collection, Benefit, Makeup Forever, Cover FX, Becca, Stila, Smash Box, Glam Glow, Boscia, Burt’s Bees etc. In addition to these product ranges, beauty enthusiasts are also able to shop luxe brands such as Dior, Estee Lauder, Clinique, Tom Ford Private blend, Clarins, Givenchy, Shiseido, Forest Essentials and Elizabeth Arden, making Sephora the one stop destination for all things beauty. Australian makeup brand, Klara Cosmetics with its 100 percent colour pigment range launched its collection at the store. Collections from Jo Malone and Olive will be unveiled shortly at the new store. For the discerning man, the store carries a wide range of men’s grooming products.
The store houses the newest edition of the Beauty Studio, where shoppers are offered Mini Flash Make overs and personalized consultations from Sephora’s beauty advisors. At the beauty studio, shoppers can learn to create key makeup looks from Sephora such as Night Smokey, Diamond Lips, Perfect Brows, Dewy Foundation, Frozen Eye Shadow and Golden Frame Smoky Eyes. They can also learn the techniques for 4K contouring and how to achieve the perfect eyeliner.
Speaking on the customer experiences and its way forward Vivek says, “We look forward in enhancing the customer experience in Sephora and we talk about the new looks. We demonstrate, promote and educate the customers for the new looks which in turn gives an experience to the customer to try the product and then buy it. This exercise will go a long way in improving the consumption in India.”
In line with its brand ethos, the Sephora store is brightly lit with vibrant colours creating a lively atmosphere for its shoppers. The various categories of products have been divided into convenient sections enabling shoppers to pick their favourites with ease.
Quoting on the retail numbers and its retail Omnichannel approach Vivek comments, “We have 16 operational stores and this Oberoi Mall, Goregaon, Mumbai store is the 17th store. We will be looking at opening 8 to 10 stores every year. As we evolve we have already seen the larger sizes of the stores also. On an average our stores are around 3,300 sq.ft. now and this will keep increasing with more and more brands coming in. Sephora is already a fully Omni brand where the customer can get the same experience from both online and offline. They have the choice to buy from the online store or come at the physical store and can even book the product online and pickup from the store. We operate through pour store and we deliver to the customer from the nearest store.”
