Sephora, part of the LVMH Group, has opened its seventh bricks-and-mortar store in the UK at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, as the beauty emporium continues its rollout across the country since its relaunch in 2022.
The 4,593 square foot store, located on the ground floor of Bluewater, enhances the beauty offering at the shopping centre, which also includes Boots, Superdrug, Lush, Molton Brown, The Fragrance Shop, Kiehl’s, L’Occitane, and the beauty halls within department stores John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.
The store has been designed in the same aesthetic as its other ‘beauty playgrounds,’ with its black and white branding a focal point, as well as its curation of local and global brands across make-up, travel, fragrance, skincare, haircare, grooming and wellness categories. Including exclusive brands such as Sephora Collection, Dr. Sam’s, Glow Recipe, Haus Labs, Inde Wild, Indu, Lawless, Makeup by Mario, One/Size by Patrick Starrr, Salt & Stone, Straand, Tarte, and Topicals.
At the press launch, FashionUnited chatted with Sarah Boyd, managing director of Sephora UK about the rollout, why the beauty retailer is finding success this time around, as well as its future plans and locations.
“Our strategy for the retail rollout is to reach the majority of the population within a one-hour drive,” explains Boyd. “We have this amazing e-commerce engine, which means that more than 80 percent of the order are delivered the next day. So, if you want to buy products from the comfort of your own home – we can do that really well.”
Boyd added: “But when we arrived in the market two years ago, before we opened stores, we asked customers what they liked about the brand, and one of the things was the physical expression, like the stores. It was really important to us not just to be an e-commerce offering, but to have stores that were geographically inclusive.
“Inclusivity is central to our brand. A lot of retailers are London-centric, or they just go to the big cities, whereas for us, over the next couple of years, all of our new stores, with one possible exception, will be outside of London.”
Sephora continues UK rollout in Bluewater, Kent
When the Feelunique website was rebranded under Sephora in October 2022, the beauty retailer quickly announced its first UK store would open in March 2023 in White City Westfield London, which it followed up with a second store in Westfield Stratford in November 2023. This year, Sephora has been focused on regional outlets, opening in Manchester at the Trafford Centre in May, followed by two stores in the North East in September 2024 at Newcastle’s Eldon Square and Gateshead’s Metrocentre, and in Birmingham at the Bullring shopping centre earlier this month.
“Across the UK, there are these incredible, vibrant beauty communities that aren’t just based in London,” added Boyd. “Our first store out of London was at the Trafford Centre in Manchester and the response was overwhelming. So, we have been focused on opening stores peppered across the UK in key locations, where people want to go and shop and spend time.”
In terms of why Bluewater? “Kent is quite underserved in terms of retail, you have high streets in town centres, but not a lot else,” explains Boyd. “When we look at new stores, we want to make sure we open in the best locations with high footfall and traffic that our customers want to shop in, like Bluewater, and we’ve had a great response online ahead of the opening.”
Sephora to open more stores in 2025 than this year
If five store launches in one year was a lot, Boyd said the beauty retailer is looking to build on the success with more openings in 2025.
“Our first store next year opens in April in Liverpool, which is going to be another big one for us,” added Boyd. “What I can say is, we will be opening more stores next year than we’ve opened this year.”
Currently, only Liverpool has been confirmed as a location for a new Sephora store, which the beauty retailer said was chosen as consumer demand “is strong” in the city. The retailer has secured a 6,727-square-foot cornerstone unit at a key entrance to South John Street of Liverpool One.
On Liverpool, Boyd said in a statement: “We have had immense demand from our fans in Liverpool to open a store in their city, and we are excited to open one in a city that embodies a remarkable energy and boasts a rich and vibrant history that resonates with our brand values.
“Liverpool has been a key location in our brand expansion plans, and we were prepared to wait for the right opportunity, which this prominent Liverpool One unit provides.”
Sephora says UK success linked to strong brand awareness ahead of openings
Sephora first entered the UK in 2000 and exited the country in 2005, closing a handful of shops due to the saturation of the market. This time the beauty brand has seen amazing success both with its physical openings and e-commerce offering and that has been linked to enhanced brand awareness.
“The biggest aspect of change this time around is the scale and growth of the brand around the world, particularly in the US, which has meant that consumers are just absolutely they’ve been screaming out for us to come to the UK,” explained Boyd. “Before we launched in the UK, we asked customers if they knew the brand, and more than 50 percent knew Sephora. They mainly knew us from holidays in the US, France or Dubai, and the good news was that they really liked the brand.”
Boyd also said that Sephora establishing its online presence first has also helped its success, as has the retailer’s expert curation of brands and own Sephora Collection, its training of its employees, named “cast members,” who all train at the Sephora University, and its ‘MySephora’ loyalty programme, which launched in July.
“One of the magic points of Sephora is that we have these incredible teams all over the world, in the US, Australia, Asia and in France that look for the best of the best of beauty in their countries, and then we all share that knowledge and bring that to the consumer globally, which is really exciting. Curation is very important to Sephora customers, they want us to help them find the best products.”
Sephora launched in 1969 in Limoges, France, and has been part of the LVMH Group since 1997. It operates in 34 markets around the world and has more than 3,000 stores.
