The WWD of October 1 tells us that Sephora is inaugurating a new Make Up For Ever shop-in-shop at its store in SoHo, New York. This space of approximately 70m2 includes make-up stands and offers 1200 SKUs (or twice the usual) including professional references - which were hitherto available only in the flagship stores of the brands.
Three other features should be pointed out:
- MakeUpForEver is one of Sephora's exclusive brands – this would explain such a development.
- The use of iPads to help clients adapt the looks of the brand to themselves and watch videos.
- This shop-in-shop has a separate entrance. This double access has a strong impact on consumers: he/she perceives the two brands as being both independent and interlinked. Here we find one of the fundamental trends in retail as I pointed out recently when talking about Carrefour Planet.
Sephora U.S. - which already tested a similar system with Beauty Clinic a few years ago - confirms its status as an innovator in retail; I described this recently when presenting the Bumble & Bumble space and automatic vending machines for beauty products...