On Friday, Sephora opened the third Parisian edition of Sephoria, its immersive beauty event.
Tickets to the two-day event, which will be held at the Maison de la Mutualité in the 5th arrondissement, are priced at €85 ($98) and sold out in 10 minutes. The event spans multiple floors, features more than 40 brands and eight masterclasses with brand founders and experts.
“We wanted to dream and continue to offer dreams to people,” said Catherine Spindler, Sephora’s president of Europe and the Middle East. “We wanted to have something creative and something different, but also to continue to dream bigger.”
Originally launched in 2018 in Los Angeles, Sephoria has only gotten bigger and more interactive over time. This year alone, it has hosted events in Shanghai and Milan, with an event in Dubai scheduled for November. Previous locations include Atlanta, New York and Rio de Janiero.
The Paris experience has an intergalactic theme, with photo opportunities in a mock spaceship and sprawling spaces dedicated to buzzy brands including fragrance maker Kayali, skincare line Byoma and a raft of new European indies including Glowery Sorority, Yepoda and Goa Organics. Selecting local brands is a key part of its strategy, focussing on regional names as well as buzzy global brands that will resonate with visitors. K-beauty is another focus for the event, with trending brands like Aestura, Laneige and Beauty of Joseon commanding floor space.
“We have the best coming from the US and from Asia, and we’re also developing the assortment from Europe,” said Spindler. “The mix is very relevant and very interesting,” she said, adding that one purpose of the event is to show the full range of categories Sephora sells, with hair, skin and fragrance being particularly popular in Europe.
In addition to interactive photo opportunities, the booths are styled to suit each brand’s colour scheme and aesthetic, with product samples and free products available throughout the event.
Beauty retailers including Ulta Beauty, which debuted Ulta Beauty World in Texas in April, are dialling up their investments in immersive in-person events to solidify their position as experiential spaces that customers associate with a richer shopping experience.
While in the US, there’s still a lot of chatter about so-called ‘Sephora tweens’, young shoppers who flock to beauty stores to play, Spindler said all ages are welcome.
“We’ve got the young generation, but we’ve also got a more mature profile,” she said.
Reporting by Priya Rao
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