Sephora SA is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands[3] alongside its own private label, Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrances, nail polish, beauty tools, body care products, and hair care items.
The company was founded in Limoges, France in 1969[4] and is currently based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.[5] Since 1996,[6][7] Sephora has been owned by the luxury conglomerate LVMH.
History
Sephora was first launched in Paris in August 1970. It is named after the biblical figure Zipporah (French: Séphora), wife of Moses.[8]
In 1993, Dominique Mandonnaud acquired Sephora and merged it with his own perfume chain under the Sephora brand. Mandonnaud is credited with designing and executing Sephora's "assisted self-service" sales experience, which distinguished itself from standard retail models for cosmetics by encouraging its primarily female customer base to test products in retail locations before purchasing them.[9][10]
Mandonnaud continued to expand the Sephora brand through the 1990s, opening its flagship store on the Champs-Élysées in 1997. In July 1997, Mandonnaud and his partners sold Sephora to LVMH, which expanded the stores globally and bolstered the chain's products to include beauty and cosmetic products.[6] Sephora extended its operations to the Middle East markets in 2007 and has opened over 44 stores in UAE and KSA, as well as an e-commerce store.[11][12] It continues to extend its partnership with exclusive brands in the region.[11]
In October 2023, Artemis Patrick was appointed President of Sephora North America, with the expectation that she would assume the role of CEO upon the retirement of her predecessor, Jean-André Rougeot.[13] In April 2024, Patrick was announced as president and chief executive officer of Sephora North America. She is the first female CEO of Sephora North America.[14]
Sephora opened its first American store in New York City in 1998, its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004, and the first Australian Sephora store in 2014.[15][16] Its North American headquarter is located in New York City, with corporate offices in San Francisco and Montréal. Sephora currently operates over 430 stores across North America.[17]
On 26 August 2016, Sephora opened its 400th location in North America on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. The store was the city's new flagship location.[18]
On 31 March 2017, Sephora opened its largest retail location in North America near Herald Square in New York City. The store is approximately 11,380 square feet and features over 13,000 products. It is one of six Sephora TIP Workshop locations, with interactive services and tools, in North America; the others include San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Santa Clara Valley, and Toronto.[19][20][21]
On 19 November 2018, Sephora signed a long-term lease at Thor Equities’ Town Square Metepec, a new retail and entertainment center in Mexico totaling 1.7 million square feet.[22]
In April 2019, R&B singer SZA accused the store of racial profiling. On May 23, 2019, Sephora announced they would be closing all locations on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, to hold diversity training for its staff.[23] However, the staff training was a part of their "We Belong To Something Beautiful Campaign" and not the accusations from the singer. The planning and training for this campaign began in late 2019.
On July 26, 2021, Sephora agreed with Palamon Capital Partners to the purchase of Feelunique.com,[24][25] a UK online retailer of prestige beauty goods founded in 2005, with 1.3 million active customers from 120 countries and more than 35,000 products from over 800 brands.[26] It had been acquired from Palamon Capital Partners for £26 million in 2012.[27] The price was rumored to be £132 million.[28]
In July 2024, Sephora introduced a summer-themed pop-up in partnership with body care brand Sol de Janeiro.[29]
In February 2026, Sephora expanded its business to Ireland, with a shop in Belfast.[30][31][32]
Operations
Sephora launched its online store in the U.S. in 1999 and in Canada in 2003.[15] The Canadian head office was opened in February 2007 by Marie-Christine Marchives, a former Sephora U.S. and Sephora France employee. Marie-Christine Marchives returned to France in July 2010 to become the general manager of Sephora France. She was replaced in Canada by Klaus Ryum-Larsen. Sephora currently operates over 2,300 stores in 33 countries worldwide,[33] generating over an estimated $4 billion in revenue as of 2013.[6][34] As of September 2013, the Sephora at Champs Élysées in Paris, France, attracts over six million people a year.[35] Afterpay and Sephora partnered to offer its customers the flexibility to pay in four installments on July 13, 2022.[36]
Acquisitions
In 2000, Sephora.com purchased the assets of Eve.com for "high six-figures".[66]
Lawsuits
On November 18, 2014, four customers filed a class action lawsuit against Sephora.[67] The suit alleges that Sephora engaged in racial discrimination by wrongfully deactivating the customer rewards accounts of Asian customers under the pretense that these customers were buying products from Sephora in bulk and reselling them.[68][69] Sephora identified accounts to deactivate by looking at email domains from @qq.com (owned by Tencent), @126.com, or @163.com (both owned by NetEase).[70]
Sponsorship
In September 2025, Sephora Middle East was announced as a sponsor of Al-Nassr Women's FC for the 2025–26 season.[71]
In March 2026, Sephora was announced as an official partner of F1 Academy. As part of the partnership, Sephora will support Natalia Granada for the 2026 season.[72]
See also
References
- About Sephora retrieved 26 March 2020^
- B.C.15 Financials 28 January 2020^
- Heather Wood Rudolph. Interview Insider: How to Get Hired at Sephora Cosmopolitan, 19 February 2015, retrieved 24 July 2015^