Founded by Dominique Mandonaud in 1969, the brand known as Sephora began its journey in the beauty industry with the revolutionary concept of perfumery “with self-service”.
Inspired by the Greek word “sephos”, meaning beauty, Mandonad renamed its stores Sephora in 1993, cementing itself as an international cosmetics reference. In the years that followed, the legendary brand strengthened its presence in the market and introduced iconic elements into its visual identity, such as the famous stripes that became symbols of worldwide recognition.
The opening of the first store in Portugal in 1998 at Norteshopping offered Portuguese consumers the possibility to buy products that did not exist in the market until then and take advantage of a personalized and unique shopping experience. A year later, they opened stores in Chiado, Colombo and Cascais to spread their presence and innovative spirit. In 2018, the brand’s online store sephora.pt was born.
Since then, the physical stores have been remodeled based on the latest Sephora concept, where in addition to the differentiated shopping experience that characterizes both the online and in-store experience, unique services such as brow stripsYou beauty center With make-up services, treatment diagnosis, engraving and product customization click and collectamong others.
In an interview with Versace, Paula Rocha, Country Director of Sephora Portugal, tells us more about this successful path.
What sets Sephora apart from other beauty and cosmetic stores? What is your philosophy?
There’s no doubt that what sets us apart is the one-of-a-kind Sephora store experience. energy and Specialization Our teams comprises of a unique portfolio of over 15000 products and over 300 brands.
How do you describe the Portuguese people? What type of product and service are they looking for most?
Our consumer typology is more feminine. We have a wide age range because we have a lot of demand from the so-called Generation Z, but there is also a lot of demand from what we call the Silver Gen (Generation 45-55). We verified that the Portuguese customer is a very mature customer in terms of Care of skin And conscious of sustainability, which we prove by selling products with the Good For Seal (sustainable, good for the environment and with more than 95% natural ingredients). In terms of makeup, the Portuguese consumer is making progress compared to a few years ago, where we continue to see huge growth. As a novelty, we verified the great adherence of hair products.
They are betting on the renovation of the stores. What is your mission with these changes?
Always keep the stores high on providing a unique experience to the people who visit us. We Want to Bring the Latest Concepts, Lighter, and More to Sephora Stores clean And above all, more digital. Many of our stores will have this concept in 2023. We have invested a lot in the last 3 years and we have line pipe Continue to modernize your store network.
Which of all the releases of 2023 fared better than expected and why?
We’ve had great success with some of the bets we’ve made over the last 12 months. I’ll be highlighting the territory of both Ariana Grande’s REM brand as well as Rare Beauty accomplishand Drunken Elephant Brand Care of skin, We have seen excellent results in the hair care category owing to our large portfolio of brands and products that we have launched in the recent months.
How do you see the future of Sephora in Portugal?
In a word: extraordinary! And growing. To provide a unique and unique experience to its customers, backed by the best teams in the market and a sustainable business model.
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