1. Angelique Holguin
Cecilia Serrano
Elizabeth George
Emily Wiley
Lauren Fletcher
3750
Spring 2011

2. Introduction
In the past the only place to buy high-end make up was in a department store. Specialty
stores that only sold make-up did not exist until the 90’s. Sephora stores were a brand new idea,
never had a store been designated exclusively for make-up for multiple brands. This concept
spread like wild fire and has become one of the most popular stores for make-up.
Understanding Your Retailer
The Sephora concept began 42 years ago under the name Shop 8. Founded in 1969 in
France by Dominique Mandonnaud, Sephora first started out as a new and innovative concept for
a beauty retail store. The idea of Sephora was meant to offer the consumers a more “hands on”
experience while shopping for cosmetics. In 1993 the name changed from Shop 8 to Sephora, it
came to be through a blending of two ancient concepts of beauty. Mandonnaud chose the name
of Moses’ beautiful wife Zipporah and then proceeded to merge it with the Greek word sephos,
meaning “pretty”. The end result: Sephora.
In December of 2009, it was reported that Sephora had 986 stores in 23 different
countries and over 250 stores located across North America. Sephora.com was launched in the
United States in 1999 offering more than 13,000 products and more than 200 brands. In 2006,
the relationship between Sephora and JCPenny began. Today, across the country, there are 155
Sephora stores located in the middle of JCPenny stores. Sephora offers products in categories
ranging from makeup to bath and body. Looking at their webpage, categories include makeup,
skincare, fragrance, bath and body, hair, tools and accessories, men, and natural. Sephora also
offers over 200 brands, including popular beauty brands such as Nars, Urban Decay, Stila, and
their exclusive Sephora Collection (sephora.com, 2011).

3. Sephora’s perception in the marketplace is that they are seen as a higher-end beauty retail
store offering designer products alongside expert and knowledgeable advice from employees in
the areas of beauty. Sephora University was created to educate product consultants on all beauty
products. This expertise aspect that comes along with the brand name Sephora brings added
value to the products being offered for the consumer. Since many products made available to
consumers are more expensive than other beauty brands, this encourages the consumer to engage
in aspirational shopping which is related to reaching one’s ideal self. Their image can also be
perceived as being more fashion forward compared to their competitors. Many products that are
advertised are being used in fashion shows, which support the notion that Sephora can be
considered a trendy and even luxury beauty retailer.
ULTA is pinpointed as Sephora’s main competitor among in their market. ULTA was
chosen and analyzed as their main competitor because the beauty retailer offers a different
assortment of products, half of the make-up that ULTA carries is drug store make-up. The one
stop shop beauty retailer also offers hair salons located in all ULTA stores. On their website,
they describe themselves as a retailer that “provides one-stop shopping”, since all ULTA stores
offer a salon, skin care spa and make-up of various price points it gives the consumers a
utilitarian benefit of getting everything on their beauty list done in one place.
Sephora’s main advantage compared to ULTA is their global exposure. As stated before,
Sephora has stores located in 23 different countries and is still expanding. ULTA only has 389
operating stores throughout 40 states. Another advantage that Sephora has over ULTA is that
they offer exclusivity on some of their higher-end products. Exclusivity carries the notion that
prestige comes along when shopping at a certain retailer. However, the fact that Sephora wants

4. to be considered a high-end retailer can hurt them as well. Many consumers are not willing to
spend more on designer beauty products.
Store Visits and Evaluations
ULTA and Sephora both cater to a predominantly female clientele of all ages. Their
clientele all share a love of make-up, a need for beauty supplies, and skin care. However,
Sephora’s customers have a need for more well-known designer brands such as Dior, St. Tropez,
and Laura Mercier cosmetic lines, and skin care products. Sephora’s customers are not wealthier
than ULTA’s customers; rather they do not mind spending more on cosmetics.
ULTA’s layout is fragrance and weekly ad specials in the front with a full service salon
in the back. The store is organized so that one side is more mainstream low price point cosmetic
lines such as L’Oreal and Cover Girl, as well as make-up and hair tools; the other side of the
store carries make-up that has a higher price point. The salespeople tend to have a vast
knowledge of the products offered and experience with make-up application. The sales
associates are always willing to give customers their personal opinion on what they feel to be the
best product for the money. The store is clean, spacious and carries an aroma from scented of
burning candles. As the consumer walks to the back of the store she would catch the smell of
hair products from the full service salon. The signage is very basic and similar to that of big box
retailers, in that it is computer generated in black bold typing to catch their guest’s eye of the
specials being offered that week. The price points of ULTA vary from a $1.00 lip balm to a $200
hair dryer. Displays in ULTA consist of tables topped with featured products or beauty tools; the
store layout is very simple compared to other retailers. Sales and promotions are offered weekly,
and guests who are members of the ULTA program receive coupons and points towards
purchases.

5. Sephora’s layout is different from ULTA’s; Sephora has designed their stores in a grid
format. Similar to a grocery store, Sephora has aisles of make-up products, beauty tools,
fragrances, and skin care products. As a customer walks into a Sephora she will see the make-up
is in the center of the store, the fragrance runs along the sides of the store, skin care is in the
back, and the checkout is in the middle. Sephora was smart to design their store this way; it
draws the customer through the store winding around until she gets to the register. The grid
format keeps Sephora organized so the small stores do not have a cluttered feeling; the customer
must make her way to the checkout by passing an abundance of products. Once at the checkout
the customer is again surrounded by point of sale merchandise.
The sales associates in Sephora are all trained at the Sephora University; each associate is
trained in basic make-up, skin care, and perfume knowledge. After that Sephora’s employees
have the option to become an “expert” in which ever field they want to learn more about (About
Sephora, 1999). All of the product consultants at Sephora are always more than happy to assist
whoever wants help or needs advice; the convenience of the knowledgeable consultants is that
they offer advice based on product knowledge and usage. The consultants do not push certain
brands on to their customers.
The stores play pop music that doesn’t overwhelm their guests, Sephora does not
intentionally have their stores smell a particular way; rather customers spray the fragrances
causing the aromas in the store. All Sephora’s have a white tiled floor, giving the impression of a
clean establishment, also throughout the store there are stations that guests may deposit trash into
after testing their products.
The signage within Sephora is small and simple; there are large images over each of the
products displays that case the products. In the front of the stores are large hanging posters and

6. window signage about certain products that the Sephora is pushing at the moment. Throughout
the store guests can test all of the products; on occasion there are small samples that are featured.
Sephora’s price points range from $10 to $350, the make-up store offers products that can
fit every budget. Sephora sends out weekly emails to its members about upcoming promotions
and benefits to beauty insider card holders. Sephora members get points on every purchase and
can use those points for free products. The only sales that Sephora has are online; Sephora does
offer free samples with certain purchases.
ULTA and Sephora both utilize customer relationship management; however Sephora’s
loyalty program surpasses that of ULTA. Sephora’s customer service tends to be more
knowledgeable and friendlier than ULTA’s. Also, if a customer is a member of their rewards
program the computer stores their information and previous purchases helping to make a hassle
free shopping experience. The employees at ULTA at times appear to be rushed, and will assist
several customers at one time making for a more impersonal shopping experience. ULTA has a
more open store layout making it easier to peruse the aisles whereas Sephora tends to have
smaller aisles and a more cramped store layout.
ULTA is deficient on their assortment. They offer mostly products that can be found at
any big box retailer or grocery store. Their price points tend to be higher than other retailers due
to their low turnover of products. Sephora, unlike ULTA offers certain lines that cannot be found
at some department and specialty stores. Products are not always in stock at ULTA making it
frustrating for customers who come in looking to purchase their favorite foundation or perfume
causing for lost sales to competitors.
Marketing
Traditional Marketing

7. One of the best ways for any company to market
themselves is by using celebrity endorsers and Sephora is no
stranger to celebrity endorsers. Stars like Kim Kardashian
and Jennifer Aniston have both launched successful
fragrance lines at Sephora. Tattoo artist and reality TV star,
Kat Von D has her own successful make-up and fragrance
line at Sephora. With ads seen on blogs, magazines, store displays even racecars, it was almost
impossible to escape Kim Kardashian’s fragrance ad.
Also, there are the traditional advertisements placed
in magazines such as Vogue, Glamour and People’s
Style Watch. Just recently, Sephora by OPI
collaborated with the popular TV show Glee for a set
of limited edition nail polishes with colors such as Slushied, Gleek
Out and Mash Up ("Sephora by opi," 2011) . There are not very
radio or television advertisements for Sephora, at least not in the
United States. However, Sephora supports many charitable causes
through their product purchases. Sephora supports Breast Cancer
Awareness with pink themed products such as brushes, make-up
palettes, compact mirrors, and Clarisonic Skincare brush. They also
support Canine Companions for Independence, Get One Give One Campaign for City of Hope,
Fight Against Prostate Cancer and their own charity The Sephora Project. The Sephora Project is
“…Our beauty-full initiative created to educate and empower women whose mission, like
ours, is to make the world a more beautiful place. For each in store and or online

8. purchase of special The Sephora Project items, well make a donation to Girls for Change,
a national organization that empowers girls to create positive social change” ("The
sephora project," 2008).
Untraditional Marketing
“So much of the beauty and personal care industry
relies on word-of-mouth for success. Women turn to friends
and peers to learn about trusted products. Increasingly, that
viral
communication is
happening online
in communities like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter”
(Renfrow2009). Sephora utilizes the concept of Sephora
uses untraditional marketing in many ways such as YouTube videos, their Facebook and Twitter
page, and Sephora’s Beauty and the Blog. Sephora’s YouTube page includes 148 videos
demonstrating make-up tutorials by Sephora’s Pro Team make-up artists, new product launches,
exclusive celebrity products, and make-up trend reports. Kat Von D also has her own make-up
tutorial videos using her products from Sephora. There are also many make-up enthusiasts that
create their own tutorial videos and use Sephora make-up exclusively. Sephora’s Facebook page
has over 1,000,000 likes and over 142,000 followers on Twitter. Their posts include one day
sales, hottest new products, product reviews, contests/sweepstakes and store events. Facebook
also has a way of giving virtual gifts to your Facebook friends in order to create buzz and virtual
marketing on the newest products. In other forms of untraditional marketing, when you purchase

9. an item from Sephora.com it asks you your hair color, eye color, skin type in order to better
match your needs by emailing you possible suggestions that would look and work best for you.
Reaching their Target Consumers
Sephora is a specialty retailer with a specific target consumer, the make-up enthusiast.
Their marketing efforts do not need to be as extensive as a department store or fast food chain.
In fact, most of Sephora’s advertisements are not seen in billboards or commercials. Instead their
loyal consumers receive their catalogs, interact on their social media sites and frequently make
in-store and online visits. Sephora understands their loyal consumers because they created
customer profiling databases through their loyalty cards; this helps them market individually
rather than assume all their customers have the same needs. Sephora’s loyalty cards help in
driving sales across channels and building stronger, more personalized customer relationships
(neolane2007). Sephora is successful at reaching their target customer because they are able to
predict purchasing behavior across multiple channels which increase loyalty and revenue per
customer (neolane2007). According to one “avid shopper of Sephora” and blogger for Fashion
Marketing Critic,
“The use of tailoring their recommendations based on my past purchases works. They
know what brands I've been surfing on their online site, plus they also record all my in-
store purchases each time I swipe my Beauty Insider card at the point-of-purchase. They
have enough stats on me to figure out what skin type I have, how old I am and what
brands I am a fan of. This means every time they send me something they will try to
make it so that I open the email” ("Sephora's Christmas holiday," 2010).

10. Through this method Sephora is able to better understand their consumers and helps them target
consumer’s individual needs. In turn, customers enjoy receiving discounts and notifications of
items they might like which causes them to make more frequent purchases.
When consumers shop at Sephora, their purchases tend to be more hedonic. If you are in
need of basic make-up, hair or skincare products, you are more likely to purchase these items at a
drugstore or a Walmart. However, Sephora’s target consumer has a different need recognition
and when they are in need of make-up, hair or skincare products they are looking for more
variety, better quality, and stylish brands. A lot of their customers are also driven to achieve their
desired states in their need recognition by perusing the store “out of boredom or because of a
motivation to engage in variety seeking” (Babin 2011 p 221). This works out as a benefit for
both the consumer and Sephora; since in reality, Sephora is an experience store. Sephora
recognizes this need and allows their consumers to test make-up eye shadows, foundations,
eyeliners, fragrances, nail polishes, blushes, lipsticks, and much more. They have make-up
experts to assist you purchasing decisions or how to apply the products they sell. Sequentially,
consumers feel as though they are getting expert knowledge and can feel confident about their
purchase. This all goes along with the decision making process, that the customer recognizes a
need and gathers external research on the product. In this case, the consumer can view an
advertisement, see a mention in this month’s Glamour magazine, receive a direct email, or
possibly hear about the latest make-up trend through E! News. The consumer can then visit in-
store to test out the product or go online and read product reviews that describe the reviewer’s
skin type, tone and age. They are then ready to make a decision on whether or not to purchase
the item.

11. Conclusion
Sephora’s store design, product differentiation, and marketing
efforts have led them to be one of the most successful cosmetics company
around the world. Women all over the world flock to Sephora stores in
order to receive their beauty knowledge and hottest beauty products.
Their consumers trust their input and expertise to make the right
purchase. Sephora makes sure they retain their loyal consumers with personalized
recommendations, free samples, and store discounts. Competitors such as ULTA may compete in
price but not in customer service, product assortment, or with such an extensive loyalty rewards
program. Sephora has remained the beauty authority for many years and will continue to provide
women with glamour, confidence and luxury for decades to come.
Reference List
About sephora. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sephora.com/help/about_sephora.jhtml
About ULTA. (2000). Retrieved from http://www.ULTA.com/ULTA/common/about.jsp
Babin, B., Harries, E.G. (2011). Cb. Ohio: Cengage Leaarning.
Neolane. (2007). Sephora teams with neolane and spss. Retrieved from
http://www.neolane.com/usa/pdf/200709_SephoraTeamsWithNeolaneAndSPPS.pdf
Renfrow, j. (2009, April 9). Beauty's on the inside at sephora. Retrieved from
http://www.responsemagazine.com/response-magazine/beauty039s-inside-sephora-
1358?page_id=2
Sephora. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.sephora.com/help/about_sephora.jhtml?location=sephora
Sephora's christmas holiday marketing efforts. (2010, November 10). Retrieved from
http://fashionmarketingcritic.com/sephoras-christmas-holiday-marketing-efforts

12. The sephora project. (2008). Retrieved from
http://www.sephora.com/go/thesephoraproject/index.jhtml
Sephora by opi. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.sephora.com/browse/section.jhtml?categoryId=C23880
Shopping for a beautiful cause. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.sephora.com/browse/section.jhtml?categoryId=C13661