Six Reasons to Admire the

Sephora Brand
David Aaker
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May 12, 2016 · 4 min read

Six Reasons to Admire the Sephora Brand | Aaker on Brands

There are six reasons that I’m impressed with
the Sephora brand — and all are tied to the cosmetic supplier’s
integrated strategy and ability to draw a customer into its brand
experience.

The Store Atmosphere Offers a Sensory

Experience
When you walk into a Sephora store, you feel so much energy
and involvement. The staff, dressed in distinctive uniforms, are
welcoming and ready help you, you hear upbeat and lively
music, and see busy customers trying products for themselves in
an easy, efficient way. There are stations all over the clearly laid-
out store that allow hands-on access to the products. It is the
ultimate in customer involvement. The hands-on elements
offered in Sephora stores include the fragrance identifier,
InstaScent (once called Poof), that spritzes raw notes of a
perfume to help customers determine which defining scent they
like most, and the Color IQ handheld device which aides in
identifying their Pantone Color IQ number to determine which
products are the closest match with their skin tone.

2. Hand-Selected & Exclusive Product Lines

Sephora has found a way to leverage the best classic and
emerging brands in the world. The use of private labels at
Sephora is limited in contrast to other specially retailers that
have only private label assortments. As a result, Sephora acts as
a cosmetic broker and can pick the best and most exciting lines
and innovations from whichever brands have good offerings;
unlike department stores where each brand controls the
assortment and is motivated to display an entire product line.
Another advantage of Sephora is that some of the exceptional
top-brand products displayed are exclusively sold at Sephora.
3. The Digital Customer Experience is Easy,
Educational and Fun
The website is amazing. The site architecture is easy to navigate.
The front page starts with intriguing sections like top gift
favorites, editor’s choices, new arrivals, and top natural options.
The digital customer experience is on-point.
TheBeautyTalk section provides a way to converse with others,
including experts about makeup, skincare, fragrances and more.
Sephora Virtual Artist is a virtual experience which allows
customers to try on dozens of lipstick color variations in
seconds, just like looking in the mirror. The Sephora Beauty
Board allows people to post pictures that show the cosmetics
and cosmetic fashions in action. Then there
is Sephora|TV where you can see “how-to” videos.

4. A Cohesive Brand Experience In-Store &

Online
In the San Francisco model store (and soon to be in others),
there are a dozen designated “Beauty Workshop” stations where
customers can sit and watch Sephora|TV tutorial videos,
practice using new products with Virtual Artist, and share
content online. It’s the center of the new store’s concept design
and a place where customers interact with the website features
and can gain confidence in more complex make-up applications
like contouring (the art of using bronzer, concealer and
highlighter to create a sculpted foundation look).

5. The Mobile Experience is Top-Notch

The Sephora mobile capability is in part the reason that L2, the
digital innovation think tank, has for three years
running ranked Sephora as the top specially retailer
brand among some 70 brands with respect to its Digital IQ
index. A mobile user can access the Sephora Virtual Artist,
receive messages about events and new products, and activate
most of the features available on the website. When in-store the
user can use Apple Pay, scan a product to read its reviews and
ratings, learn how many loyalty reward points a product can
deliver, and receive personalized messages. Half of Sephora’s
digital traffic is now through mobile (source).

6. A Smart Customer Loyalty Program

Sephora has a compelling loyalty program that goes across the
online and storefront venues and offers a supply of relevant
awards including products, makeovers, and classes. The loyalty
program offers opportunities for frequent users to sample new
products that they may not otherwise try, interact with staff of
cosmetic artists for beauty makeovers, and further develop a
relationship with the brand. The program, like that of airline
mile point systems, allows consumers to advance to VIB (Very
Important Beauty Insider) or to the VIB Rouge status with
tiered associated benefits.

Sephora has really pulled ahead on the digital front — the brand
is omnichannel oriented and keeps innovating. Further, because
of the hands-on in-store and virtual experiences, the brand has
an “involving energy.” On these dimensions, Sephora has
outperformed three other retail brands that I also admire and
have posted my take on why they are successful: Uniqlo, Muji,
and Old Navy. It’s no surprise they’re a Top 10 brand on
Prophet’s Brand Relevance Index — a consumer survey which
ranks brands based on their relentless relevance in consumer
lives.