Sephora has embarked on one of the largest capital projects in its history.
The beauty giant is redesigning all of its stores across the U.S. and Canada, Artemis Patrick, president and CEO of Sephora North America, said during a presentation at the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show in New York City. The company operates more than 700 stores across North America.
“We are touching every single store,” Patrick said.
Some of the locations will receive a major redesign, Patrick explained, while others will receive more of a minor one or a refresh. The majority of the work will be done within the next five years.
“It’s not a capital issue,” she added. “it’s a resource issue.”
The revamp comes after Sephora has been testing a format that makes it “a lot easier to update our stores,” Patrick said. The format is focused on the company’s four main categories: skin care, fragrance, make-up and hair-care.
Some of the changes include putting a beauty studio off to the side of the space, mobile checkout and more modular fixtures.
“We’re creating a much more agile footprint,” Patrick said.
One of the goals of the fleet revamp is to ensure that Sephora stores offer customers the same experience across its store network. To date, the retailer has rolled out the changes to 111 doors. Sales and transactions are up in the revamped stores.
In other remarks during her presentation, Patrick emphasized the importance of Sephora’s “highly educated,” non-commissioned in-store beauty advisors.
“Our secret source 100% is our beauty advisors,” she said.
The Sephora executive also noted the important role physical stores play in beauty, a category where customers value the ability to try and touch product.
"I'm not sure I'll see a world in my lifetime where people don't want to touch and play with beauty," she said.