SEPHORA under LVMH

Project 1 Brand Extension:

Exercise 1

1. The founder of Sephora.

Sephora is a visionary beauty-retail concept founded by Dominique Mandonnaud.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephora)

2. The place it located.

The company was founded in Limoges and is currently based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephora)

3. When does it been found and when it joined LVMH.

Sephora been discovered on 1970. On July 1997, Sephora join LVMH.

4. The reason why it call Sephora.

The name comes from the Greek word meaning beauty, sephos, and the Greek spelling of Zipporah, wife of Moses, described in Midrash, Aggadah and Targum Onkelos as beautiful.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephora)

5. Is Sephora doing e-Commerce.

Sephora has been a digital innovator since 1999, when it launched its e-commerce website. Since then, it has been ahead of much of the retail pack with its omnichannel loyalty program, user-generated online content, social selling, and other cutting-edge e-commerce tools.  (https://www.uschamber.com/co/good-company/the-leap/sephora-cto-discusses-new-tech-platform)

6. How Sephora run its business.

Sephora’s strategy is that it buys products wholesale directly from brands for about 50-65% less than the retail price, then sell the product at the same price said brand sells it, keeping costs the same while earning. (https://businessmodelanalyst.com/sephora-business-model/)

7. Why is Sephora successful in the world.

Sephora is currently well-positioned as a qualitative and unique brand that provides good quality cosmetic products for affordable pricing. The company concentrates on higher-end products instead of selling drugstore products. (https://jungleworks.com/how-beauty-brand-sephora-has-become-so-successful)

8. Who is the consumer? 

The target audience for Sephora is young women, especially those belonging to the middle and upper-middle classes.   (https://jungleworks.com/how-beauty-brand-sephora-has-become-so-successful)

9. Why Sephora failed to operate in Japan.

Sephora has a poor variety of merchandise here compared with its stores outside of Japan. Its prices and services are not attractive to the Japanese consumer. Severe economic conditions in Japan were cited as the biggest hurdle for carrying out Sephora’s expansion plans there. (Byline: Jennifer Weil with contributions from Koji Hirano, Tokyo   https://wwd.com/feature/article-1175250-1730535/)

10. Why Sephora failed to operate in Hong Kong.

The last Sephora Hong Kong store traded for just two years in Mong Kok, closing in 2010. At the time, retail commentators said the brand failed due to poor store location, lackluster marketing and high rents. (Byline: Robert Stockdill  https://insideretail.asia/2019/04/03/sephora-hong-kong-comeback-confirmed)

Exercise 2

1. Employees Really Only Know One Specific Product

Usually, when it comes to any other department store, the employees are trained in multiple beauty products so they can offer a customer a wider array of choices. However, when it comes to Sephora, former employees have said that they’re only really schooled in one specific beauty product while only touching base on the others.

2. Near-Empty New Products On The Shelves

There are times when new products would arrive, and the bottles would be half-empty (like perfume or lip gloss or even shampoo) and the employees were still supposed to put it out for customers to purchase.

3. The Strange Truth About Their Testers

The employees never really switch them out unless it’s extremely necessary and they don’t even usually go to great lengths to even clean their most used testers. Especially when it comes the mascara on their shelves. Everyone knows that bacteria breeds and that it’s extremely unhealthy to have multiple people try on eye makeup. This is how some people get eyesores.

4. Customer Received Damaged, Incorrect Products Or Even Have Not Received Their Product 

There are many cases about customer haven't received their product and received damaged or incorrect product from the online shop of Sephora. Sometimes, it is seller's fault and mostly it is cause by the sender of the parcel.

5. What Happens To Those “Half Used” Returned Products

A couple years back, the buyers are able to return any product to Sephora with no question asked. Now, they aren’t as chill about it thanks to employees saying that some stores would restock the returned product. The backlash was so vivid that they had to reevaluate their return policy on some of their beauty products.

Solution