LVMH-owned beauty retailer Sephora is set to open a second store in the UK this November, eight months after unveiling its debut outlet.
The next Sephora outlet will be located in the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in east London.
The retailer returned to the UK market after 18 years in March with a 6,000 sq. ft. flagship space inside the Westfield London shopping centre in White City.
Christopher de Lapuente, Chief Executive of LVMH’s Selective Retailing Division, subsequently revealed that the outlet’s sales performance was “300% better than expected within the first eight weeks” of opening.
“We’re off to a fabulous start,” he said. “The opening day, we had 5,000 people queuing outside the store. I was there, and some people started queueing at midnight. And there were no sales.
“It was 5,000 people wanting to enjoy the Sephora experience, and it’s the power of the brand. They came to discover Sephora, the products, the assortment, which is part of the magic.”
Earlier this year, Sofie Willmott, a lead analyst at GlobalData, suggested that the potential threat from Sephora to the incumbent beauty retail leaders in the UK was significant. She pointed to a consumer survey which showed that one-third of UK shoppers aware of Sephora would switch to the retailer for their health & beauty purchases, with the main retailers they would turn away from being Superdrug and Boots.
However, Willmott highlighted that the specialists were well prepared for Sephora’s re-entry to the UK market, with Boots having introduced beauty halls and upped its game with contemporary, in-demand brands. Meanwhile, Superdrug has focused on low prices and the services it offers to satisfy its young shopper base.
