This document summarizes research conducted by a team on creativity in the cosmetics industry. Through surveys and interviews at Sephora stores, the team found that many cosmetics users struggle to find products that match their skin tone. They observed Sephora's Color IQ machine, which identifies matching products but has limitations. The team's research showed opportunities to help users select the right makeup through an improved technology solution. Their goal is to develop a concept that provides an easy, efficient way for women to find matching products and feel confident in their purchases.

1. CREATIVITY
IN COSMETICS
CREATIVITY IN MANAGEMENT
MBA 536 - Jonathan Bohlmann
.
Mélissa Bourniquel
Marjorie Carpentier
Paola De Cordoue
Sophie Djordjevic
Alexia Taisson
Christine Yazdani

2. This project has been elaborated following our
team’s will to find a creative solution to a problem we are faced
with regularly. For all team members, makeup is part of our routine
and two of us have worked in the cosmetic industry before.
Therefore, we are all aware of the challenges users usually face to
choose what cosmetics products to use to match their skin tone
and how to use them. First, if you want to appear as the “best of
yourself”, it is crucial to avoid makeup “faux pas” or you would
feel ridiculous. Second, the cosmetics industry is continuously
changing making new technologies one of its first priorities. This
ever changing environment raises new threats: competition is hard
on one side, users are more and more confused with the everyday
growing offer of new products. But this dynamic market is also full
of opportunities to develop new concepts. We thought that finding
a feasible and creative solution to help cosmetics users as
ourselves to find the right cosmetics products in this very confusing
environment was an interesting idea we will investigate in this
report.
Page 1
“

3.
DESIGN THE
CHALLENGE
Proprietary Consumer Study conducted
for Make Up For Ever by the NPD Group
As we identified a real users’ problem in the
cosmetics industry, we decided to conduct our
research in the world’s largest cosmetics retailer,
Sephora, part of the LVMH luxury group.
It appeared to us that Sephora was the place
where the users’ problem was the most obvious.
Indeed, when you enter a Sephora, a complete
cosmetics shopper experience begins: you are
surrendered by millions of cosmetics products
displayed in any color you want. You are also
confronted with a very large choice of brands,
which a Beauty Advisor (name given to Sephora
staff supposed to guide you in your purchase
experience) would attempt to present to you.
The possibilities of products and brands are
immensely numerous in terms of colors, of texture,
of composition and of benefits. As a result, it not
only requires a broad cosmetics industry
knowledge from the Beauty Advisors but also a
talent to know how to match a product tint and
claim with a customer’s skin tone and properties.
A great deal of persuasion is also necessary
to convince the user that she actually needs the
product. If only the Beauty Advisor is missing one
of those skills or is not available to help the
customer, he/she may not be able to sell products
and the user may end up frustrated by its Sephora
customer experience. Even worse, the user may be
even more confused by the large product offering
and what she thinks she would need.
Do you think it is
challenging to find
the right foundation?
A s o u r t e a m i s
entirely composed of
makeup users, we decided
to explore the cosmetics
industry and try to find a
solution to a well-known
problem of ours: find the
products that best suits
our needs, tastes and skin
tone in a very fragmented
cosmetics environment.
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4. USER RESEARCH DETA ILS
While completing our Gear 1 stage, we did two “field” studies in order to get acquainted first and
foremost with our target users and then with our biggest stakeholder, Sephora.
First, we did a Survey Monkey questionnaire (see Annex) and we got 198 respondents of which
only 100 appear in the results (optimal solution without paying). It allowed us to gain “users’ empathy”
and elaborate our customer “persona”. 95% of our respondents were female and 90% were aged
between 18 and 25, which is explained by the concentration of young people in our survey reach. We
decided that those numbers were relevant because we wanted
to target essentially young women close to our age. Besides,
young women are usually very receptive to new technologies
and “brave” enough to try new makeup concepts.
Secondly, we did a Sephora store check. We had
prepared questions to ask the Sales Representatives in the
Sephora store in Crabtree (see Annex). It enabled us to get to
know our retailer better. We observed the “user problem” in
real life through a collection of information about the current
consumer experience. It enabled us to elaborate our consumer
experience mapping. We also explored also what were our
possibilities and our constraints to draw a solution to the
cosmetic user problem.
Every Day Once in a while Only for going out Rarely
51 % 23 % 14 % 12 %
Regarding the makeup routine habits of our respondents, we
could draw the following table:
USER RESEARCH DESCR IPTION
CONSUMER SURVEY ANALYSIS
Half of our respondents use makeup everyday, which has
convinced our study group to go forward in our project.
Digging further into our survey results, we were able to
find concerns of the consumers and their level of satisfaction
with Sephora’s current offerings. We found that the majority
uses makeup everyday and is most concerned with the price
and claims of products. In terms of the first attribute consumers
look for in cosmetic products, 38% use products to cover/hide
imperfections while 26% use products to look good. It was also
concluded that consumers think it is hard to find the right
foundation for their skin with 47% claiming it is hard and 15%
claiming it is very hard. 60% of consumers in our survey prefer
to stay loyal to brands, but are also willing to try others in order
to achieve the best possible look. We also learned that the
majority of Sephora’s consumers don’t always like being helped
by the Beauty Advisor associates in the store. Consumers want
to have a way to find the best products that suit them, but find
it hard to accomplish this with the Beauty Advisors on staff.
Sephora is one of the leading cosmetic specialty stores in
France and around the world. Owned by LVMH, its 1,900
stores stand in 29 different countries. In North America,
Sephora has over 360 stores and is the largest store for
cosmetic selection and sales in the North American market.
Consumers largely remain loyal to Sephora due to their
extensive product selection and Beauty Insider client loyalty
program. This program personalizes the Sephora experience
for consumers as they gain points, special gifts, and special
access to Sephora’s offerings.
INFOGRAPHICS OF THE MAIN
RESULTS OF THE SURVEY
4%
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5. F ro m o u r s t o re c h e c k a n d s a l e s
representatives interview at Sephora, we have
come up with interesting observations. First, as we
expected, the situation in Sephora stores is clearly
different between peak hours and off-peak hours.
Our customer problem become less obvious
during off-peak hours because Beauty Advisors
(BA) have much more time to take care of their
customers and have less pressure to sell their
products. Therefore, we acknowledged that our
solution should help as much the makeup users
than the beauty advisors which job is very tiring
because at the end of the day, they must complete
high sales targets.
A constraints we identified is that each
Sephora stores has a very precise organization for
the BAs to be as efficient as possible. Each BA is
assigned to a particular spot in the shop and they
communicate through headphones when potential
buyers enter the shop. We realized that changing
anything in the actual purchase experience would
probably require adaptation of stores’ organization.
Therefore, we realized how important it was to
develop something that would not add complexity
to BAs job tasks and facilitate the purchase
process.
STORE CHECK ANALYSIS
Last but not
least, during
o u r s t o r e
c h e c k , w e
h a v e
d i s c o v e r e d
what lead to
o u r p ro j e c t
solution: the
Color IQ machine. The Color IQ machine is a
laser that you place over your skin. It is
connected to a computer that will
automatically find the products offered by
Sephora that best suit the user.
The two biggest limits we found about this
machine are:
• Covers only face and lip products but not
eyes
• Need the assistance of a Beauty Advisor
Given that Sephora uses more and more
technology in store (see video of the robots
Sephora installed in a store in Paris during
our presentation), we thought that a solution
including advanced technology would be
relevant for our users.
COLOR IQ CONCEPT
Interview with Sephora’s
Beauty Advisors
According to Beauty Advisers, about half of
the customers know what they want and the other
half don’t. Among the half who know what they
want, they do not want to be helped by beauty
advisers but they don’t necessarily buy the right
products. Regarding the half who do not know what
they want, they tend to rely more on beauty advisers and are very concerned about finding the
most matching products among thousands. Yet, our satisfaction survey (Survey Monkey) shows
that they often are disappointed.
Indeed, our interview reveals that beauty advisers’ product knowledge is limited. Indeed,
the store offers dozens of brands, thousands of products. And despite regular formations that the
beauty advisers get in-store via the brands, it is impossible for them to master all the products.
Color IQ device was meant to help them in that way. The device is to be applied in three
parts of the customer’s skin and it delivers a pantone that is associated with certain foundation. It
aims at providing the customer with the best matching color right away. Plus, the pantone can be
in the beauty insider loyalty card, so that it becomes easy for customers to find the matching
products online.
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6. TAR GET USER S & CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
Through our study, we found out that most of
women have a hard time choosing and finding which
product is the best for them. By using the Survey Monkey
questionnaire, we gathered lots of responses from women
aged from 18 to 25. This helped us define our core target
as “Women aged from 18 to 50”. This generation is the
one that will trust new technologies the most, and that
need the more education in the makeup field. Our target
is a heavy makeup user, that has difficulties in finding
products without assistance, and thinks that Sephora
Beauty Advisors skills are very variable. She buys makeup
to look good, feel more confident, and might be loyal to a
brand but doesn’t mind buying others.
We also defined a secondary target, “men and
older women” as these categories are not always well
addressed and might need more help than other users to
find their perfect products, even if they will have different
needs.
In order to better identify and have more information about our target customers, we created a
survey. This survey helped us having relevant data for our project. The survey has been created on the
website “Survey Monkey.” Then, we had a total of 100 answers available. The results can be found in
the appendix. The most important information is the following:
- 95% of the people who took the survey were female.
- 90% of these people were between 18 and 25 years old.
- Most of them (51%) wear makeup everyday while only 12% wear make up rarely.
- The price of the product is generally what matters the more to the customers but the texture,
the claims, and the composition are also important factors.
- Women wear makeup principally to hide and cover imperfections and to look good.
Once we found out all these criteria, we decided to focus more on the issues of choosing
products. The relevant data are the following:
- 47% of people think that it is hard to find the right products; 15% think that it is very hard.
- Most people like the brands they currently buy but they do not mind to change the brand in
order to have a better-adapted product.
- Most people like to be advised when they need to choose a product but they do not want to
be forced by the advisors to buy the products.
- Among the people who go to Sephora, most of them think that the advisors are sometimes
good at helping finding products and sometimes they’re not.
This information shows us that the advices and then the quality of service at Sephora can still
be improved. The salespeople are not competent enough to be helpful for each customer. Our
solution can fix these pain points and improve the quality of service at Sephora.
OTHER R E SE ARCH
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7. Objects
Sales Team
Brand Representatives
Other Clients
People
Technological devices
available in-store to search
for information/products.
Skin analysis devices
Printing machines
to print customer-adapted
products
(i.e eyeshadows colors)
Department stores
(large luxury brands and
products representation)
Brand’s own stores
(such as Bobbi and Brown,
Make Up For Ever!,
M.A.C. Cosmetics…)
Sephora
(seen as The Mecca
of makeup)
Environments
Media &Messages
Online
(websites, press, blogs)
In-Store
(Devices like iPads)
Dedicated and
generous
in-store staff
Online FAQ
Services
POEMS Analysis
For Gear 1, we are able to conclude the observation that new insights of cosmetic
consumers show a focus on choosing products in the chosen environment of Sephora. The customer
journey timeline concluded the customer experience through analyzing their various actions,
struggles, feelings, and the overall story of a customer at Sephora.
Our empathy exercise showed that the end users are women of different ages both young
and mature who struggle choosing their makeup. The stakeholders mapping allowed for identifying
the players who matter to our project in the Sephora company. And our on-site Sephora interview
has given us insights from professionals in the industry.
CONCLUSION
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8. Color IQ - Sephora
Technology that helps
customer to find the
right products, exactly
matching their skin
tones and undertones
Perform a Skin
Analysis
that provides insights
about the quality of
the skin as well as its
perfect color match
Using technology
in order to have
more knowledge
about different
products, about your
own skin too
Create a skin tone
measurement system
in order to able to
identify clearly
different skin tones
(ex: Pantone
reference)
Sephora Stores
Great diversification
of brands, products
and price ranges.
Training
all the sales
representatives in
order for them to be
efficient with the skin color matching device
Inform each
customer
about all the
makeup possibilities
he has within the
store
Increase
the advice quality
from the sales teams
and beauty advisors
Create larger product
ranges in terms of
colors in order to
more chances to
perfectly match the
customer’s skin tone
Create a color chart
based on a
measurement system
or an existing chart
like the Pantone one
Women between 15
and 50 years old
That like to wear
makeup and need to
find the right products
and the one that want to
wear make-up but don’t
know what they need
How might we help
every customer to
find the right
makeup products?
Especially foundation
Below is the transcript of a real
brainstorming session we had all
together while thinking of our
concept. Why are we doing this?
How may we manage to do it?
What are the tools we may need?
Where do we want to implement
our concept? Who to target?
IDEATION
When thinking about makeup,
a woman does not want things to be
too complicated. It should be easy to
find perfect matches, and easy to use
the products she likes. Not finding
what she wants or going home with a
product she is not 100% sure about is
going to affect her perception of the
shop or the brand.
Our solution needs to provide
women with an easy, efficient and
quick way of finding what they are
looking for. A woman usually buys
make-up to feel better, to feel more
beautiful and confident. Thus, they
need to feel happy about their
purchase. The full process should be
fun, to enhance the experience.
METAPHORS
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9.
SEPHORA
CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
. 1. Witnessing
2. Becoming
Inspired
3. Researching
4. Arriving
& Browsing
5. Learning &
Experimenting
6. Choosing &
Coordinating
7. Purchasing
8. Using
9. Reflecting &
Repurchasing
10. Sharing
WANTING
SEARCHING
EXPERIENCING
WANTINGMORE
1. There is already too many products on the
market, and it is hard for a woman to find the
perfect one. We note a latent need: some
would like to put makeup on but don't have
the courage to look for the product they need
because it looks like a nightmare to find it. In
front of the variety of products available, they
really don’t know which ones to choose.
2. Sales persons are not always available in store
to help nor know what to answer all of a
customer’s questions, and unfortunately the
experience rely heavily on the sales team.
3. Complete information is not always available.
Today, many clients like to read reviews before
buying any type of products for example. Also,
the claims on the packagings may often be
confusing.
4. The ration between quality and price is not
always at his best in makeup. Many low cost
brand are making dupes of higher end ones to
try to answer that issue but yet, quality
requirement are not always met.
P A I N P O I N T S
A woman (between 15 and 50 years old
mostly) has the willingness to wear makeup everyday
or even just for special occasions. This woman would
pick a store where she can have a great choice of
products among different famous brands. She
goes to the closest Sephora store. Once she arrived,
she is facing a high diversity of products. She starts
to go around in the store in order to find the
products she looks for: foundation, concealer,
lipstick, eye shadow…. When she sees all the
different brands, colors, textures available, she
starts struggling on what product to choose.
Then, a beauty advisor comes to ask her if she may
need some help and start to advise her with
different products matching her skin tone. She still
has some difficulties to make a choice.
The problem that could be solved by our
project is that this woman could use our technology
in order to reduce the choice of products by simply
having to pick in the ones matching her skin tone
and therefore make a more accurate, efficient and
faster decision. Women would have a lot less
troubles to choose the right products.
R O L E P L A Y I N G
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10. Gear 1 and Gear 2 definitely helped us to pinpoint the problems to be solved relative to
the choice of makeup products. These steps are useful to find out what kind of solutions
we can offer to makeup’s customers. The role-playing and the following storyboard define
how we could help customers to discover a better and more efficient way to choose
makeup. Indeed, the storyboard allows us to image the use of the process.
In the Gear 3 part, we will go further explaining how this process could work.
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11. The shopping environment is
extremely confusing because of
the variety of products and brands
available, often very similar to
each other. The customers are
having trouble finding the product
that would suit them best.
Simple, quick, effective
solution for the user to guide
her into her foundation
purchase process despite the
v e r y c o n f u s i n g i n - s t o re
environment.
C O R E V A L U E P R O P O S I T I O N
GEAR 1 GEAR 2
VALUE TO THE END CONSUMER
VALUE TO SEPHORA
Thanks to the
technology move it
improve user’s
shopping experience,
it increases the value
of the user’s shopping
bag and therefore
results in better sales.
It increases customer
loyalty and attract
new customers as
the advises are more
accurate and create
a relationship of
confidence with
each customer
Regarding CRM, it helps
Sephora getting more
and accurate information
about their customers
(each would have a
“Sephora identity” with
name, email, phone,
product information).
In terms of supply chain
management it would
lead to better economies
of scales, better answers
to demand, lower risk of
shortages, lower waste, as
the company will know
which tint are the most
common.
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12. In Sephora, each brand presents itself as a
beauty bar offering all lines of products. Each
brand would have between X and X products in
its portfolio.
Our IQ machine would be attractive because it
w i l l c l e a r l y b e D I S R U P T I V E v i s u a l l y
(merchandising will have nothing to do with a
classic beauty bar but looking like a photo
booth). It will also be attractive for its
technology (X-Rays, printing) and its offering
(personalized foundation).
Deliver high quality customized products, unique to each consumer and
whose characteristics perfectly match her needs in order to create the
optimum beauty treatment solution. With no efforts and in an enjoyable
way, the consumer would be able to become the best possible version of
herself (improvement of the purchasing experience).
Currently, Sephora has the Color IQ device. Yet, the main
shortcoming is that it still needs the beauty adviser to use it,
which could be a problem during high traffic periods.
The problem is that the beauty advisor wastes time in manutention tasks.
Shortcoming from observation:
๏The beauty advisor wastes time in manutention tasks
๏Color IQ only takes into account skin tone
Our goal, is to improve Color IQ
by providing a IQ booth that assess the latter concerns.:
๏ Provides on screen instructions that the customers can easily follow
๏ Takes into account individual features such as hair color, skin tone,
skin type, eye color through a complete scan
๏ Provides the best matching options regarding available in-store
products
๏ Provides exact matching shades for eye-shadow, lipstick, foundation
delivered through a palette printed right away
IQ BOOTH
Objects
Beauty advisers:
They help the end
user mastering the IQ
booth technology
People
IQ Booth
Laser machine
and 3D Printer:
Help the end user get the
information they need quickly,
clearly and accurately, which is
better than hanging in the
store hesitating between
hundreds of colors or than
being mistaken
by beauty advisers
Merchandising
(Sephora):
Modern environment,
very professional and
colorful in the
meantime, reminds
environment of a
professional studio.
Light effects
Environments
Access makeup
information through
the IQ booth on the 1st
use. Then, this info will be
recorded in the loyalty card
and can be quickly
accessed online or
through the IQ
booth again
No anxiety
about finding the
right products and colors.
Beauty advisors teach
you how to use your new
makeup. The IQ booth
can also project masks
on your face to show the
diverse results
Services
New POEMS Analysis Messages
CONCLUSION
C A P A B I L I T Y R E Q U I R E M E N T S
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13. Tactical
Components
Capabilities
Required
Current
Entreprise
Capabilities
Cost to
Develop
Internally
External
Sources of
Expertise
Development
Strategy
Machine
Framework
Industrial Design Similar Designs
(make-up
automatic
distributor) so
similar sourcing
and production
knowledge
High Designers Work with
External
Designers
Delivery &
Assembly in
Store
Basic Knowledge
through Automatic
Distributor
example
High Delivery
Partners
Work with
External
Delivery
Partners
Laser Appliance
Expertise &
Manufacturing
Capacities
Color IQ Expertise High Laser
Manufacturer
Develop
Strategic
Partnerships
Raw
Material
Quality
Make-up
Depending on the
Material Sourced
Low Medium
(depending on
material sourced)
Supplier Work with other
LVMH or l’Oréal
brands
suppliers
Ink Skin Tolerance No sourcing before Low Supplier Develop
Supplier
Partnership
Packaging Innovative
Design
Expertise from
LVMH luxurious
brands
High Producers Work with other
LVMH or l'Oréal
suppliers
Brand
Marketing
Brand &
Communications
Other LVMH or
l’Oréal brands
expertise
Low Medium Not Needed Develop
Internally with
Marketing
Partners
Direct
Marketing
Data-base
Management &
Enjoyable
Consumer
Experience
Partial Corporate
Experience
Low Medium Not Needed Develop
Internally with
Marketing
Partners and
Beauty Advisors
Below are listed all the capabilities needed for the IQ booth to be created. This template
shows what capabilities, knowledge and best practices we can exploit from the LVMH
corporation, from other LVMH brands but also from LVMH biggest competitor in cosmetics, l’Oréal.
The template also points at the areas where we are lacking of know-how and where we should
focus our efforts. According to this template, we will also be able to draw first estimates regarding
project costs and feasibility.
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14. DEPICTION OF ACTIVITY SYSTEMS &
VALUE EXCHANGE FOR RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS
EXPERIENCE
๏ USERS as they finally finds a way to perfectly choose their makeup without
having to wander between alley of products they do not understand nor
know.
๏ SEPHORA thanks to this technology move. It will improve user’s shopping
experience and therefore increase his shopping bag which will result in
bigger sales for Sephora. Also, it will increase customer loyalty and attract
new customers but moreover it will increase Sephora's database as they
will get more information about each user. Each user would have a
“Sephora identity” with name, email, phone, product information, but also
to know about his skin type and tone, which will result in better order
management for each store, according to the population visiting it.
๏ IQ MACHINES SUPPLIERS as their raw materials will be finally known for
themselves and not under a big brand name. Also, they will take part of an
innovative project, which may lead them to improve their innovation level
internally and therefore may increase their competitiveness in their own
market.
๏ SHAREHOLDERS who can invest in a promising project that could be
quickly develop in very large scale as Sephora owns more than 1,900
locations over 30 countries which are generating over $4billion revenues.
๏ BEAUTY ADVISORS, as they can lead the user toward the IQ Machine
and they don’t have to determine the good product for the user anymore.
Also they now have user’s exact informations regarding their skin tone and
type, which will make things easier in order to advise them better on
particular products and brands
IS A PROCESS CREATING VALUE FOR…
ACTIVITY
SYSTEM
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15. VALU E E X C H AN G E
WHO ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS?
๏ Designers are in charge of designing a IQ booth that
is fun, easy to use and has an appealing design.
๏ Suppliers are in charge of providing high quality ink
and raw materials that will be the base of the makeup
products. They have to be conformed with quality
standards met by luxury cosmetics products:
hypoallergenic, skin tolerant
๏ Producers are in charge of producing, manufacturing
and co-packaging the different cosmetics desired
(palettes, beauty bags…), as well as to inventory.
๏ Beauty advisors will promote the IQ booth and guide
consumers into using it
๏ Consumers provide payment and promote the IQ
booth through word to mouth, social media…
๏ Beauty advisors have more time to focus on essential and time-consuming
services such as makeup lessons, and have recorded information on the
consumer readily accessible through the beauty insider card. The IQ booth is
time-saving.
๏ Sephora earns more money by being able to handle multiple customers in
the same time, plus they save money during high affluence periods because
thanks to a gain of time, the need for hiring extras is reduced.
๏ Internally, supply chain is also improved while the number of unsold
products is reduced thanks to make-to-order type of production and
customization versus a Make-to-Stock model, currently applied. This approach
is more cost efficient.
๏ Customers get to find the best version of themselves possible without putting
much effort into it. They gain satisfaction and save time.
ACTIVITY SYSTEM
The new activity
system is an
extension of the
existing one with
color IQ. It offers
more possibilities
but it relies on the
same idea: providing
the customer with
the perfect products.
VALUE
EXCHANGE
The value
exchange is
enhanced
(see previous
part)
RESOURCES
IQ booth requires
additional investments in
order to buy the makeup
printing technology from
Grace Choi. It only requires
Mink, a personal 3D printer.
We also need to design
and manufacture the
booth. No additional
staffing is required in store.
EFFICIENCIES
The supply chain is improved
thanks to the make-to-order
principle. Thanks to the same
base products, there is no waste
or unsold products because the
level of customization is high.
There is a low risk to produce a
product that the customer will
never want and buy. Plus, unlike
most of the make-to-order
system, the product is available
almost right away.
๏ Implement a solution that provides the customer with perfect matching
cosmetic products depending on the specific features such as hair color, skin
type, skin tone and eye color. Color IQ works well with foundation, end
consumers love it. Pushing the limits of this existing device will sure be
extremely appreciated by the customers.
๏ Link the IQ booth with the beauty insider loyalty card:
• The references of your skin tone and features are kept in the card
• Online orders are made possible
INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN &QUICK WINS
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16. OTHER MARKETING & BUSINESS MODEL
Try the
machine in one
Sephora and
observe customers
interactions
Ask for
feedbacks from
the customers
Communication
about the IQ
Booth launch
Offer
Free
Samples
Launch
a
contest
Full
Make-Up Set
Big
Palette
Small
Palette
IQ machine already exists (Color IQ) and is
highly appreciated by customers. When the
IQ booth comes out, there is a high chance
that they will adore IQ booth as well,
because it is a huge improvement of the
Color IQ.
Printing your own make-up is a technology that already
exists thanks to Grace Choi, a Harvard student. It is
called Mink and it is easily accessible. She uses as an
« ink » make-up components that are FDA approved and
that are sourced from the same suppliers as the famous
make-up brand women already use. This technology
move is very interesting for us as it paves the way to
make-up printing devices promising technology.
Technology is now a core competency of makeup brands, it is often associated with makeup
artists, experts and also pharmaceutical competencies. Adding technology to makeup is
nowadays even more relevant in customers’ eyes, as it can be seen with Sephora when they
introduced robots in a shop in their Parisian flagship of the Champs Elysées, and it is a hit.
OBSTACLES
1. Products under Sephora brand name?
2.Concerns of the users about product quality
OTHER IDEAS
1. Create a new brand name for the brand
which would be owned by LVMH?
2. Place the “Beauty Booth” in a more
“private” area?
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17. We identified that there is a consumer need for
more personalized product matching. With Sephora being the top
cosmetic store in America, we chose to focus on this company to
come up with a creative solution to this problem. The current
consumer experience in Sephora has limited personalization as
most consumers feel that they are on their own to find products
and are unable to fully discover the best products for them.
Although the Color IQ currently identifies the best color matches
for consumers, it lacks further personalization with aspects such as
skin composition of texture and eye makeup offerings based on
other factors such as face shape, eye shape, eye color, and hair
color. In response to this problem, we developed a solution
through an advanced IQ machine. This machine would completely
personalize the full face of makeup products for consumers from
their face makeup of foundation, concealer, and powders to their
eye makeup of eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascaras, false eyelashes
and also provide consumers with a guide of how to apply the
makeup for their specific face and eye shape. With Sephora’s
extensive product selection and brands offered in the store,
consumers will have a personalized makeup guide of what
products will work best for them. The value exchange from our
solution ensures that consumers are gaining knowledge and
product counseling from Sephora in which the IQ machine finds
the best products for them, they purchase the products and then
they become the best version of themselves all from the help of
the IQ machine. This solution will ensure that consumers purchase
the best cosmetic products and will solve this void in the market
while adding value to the consumer’s purchasing and using
experience.
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18. APPENDIX
1. SURVEY QUESTIONS
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19. 2. SURVEY RAW RESULTS
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20. Page 19

21. Page 20

22. 3. EXTREME USERS
N E G A T I V E U S E R P O S I T I V E U S E R
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23. 4. SEPHORA BEAUTY ADVISOR QUESTIONS
1. How long have you been working at Sephora ?
2. Would you say that all the products here have no secret for you ?
3. What do you do in order to increase your product knowledge?
4. About customers: Do they know what to use on average?
5. Or do they often solicit you because they have no clue?
6. How do you find out what products suit the customers?
7. Could you describe your selling process ? (From greeting to the actual sale and goodbye)
8. How do you react when customers buy something that does not suit them ?
9. What is the biggest challenge for you when it comes to advising customers?
5. SEPHORA BEAUTY ADVISOR ANSWERS
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