Sephora opens its latest UK store on Wednesday with a debut at the Bluewater supermall in Kent. It comes after a raft of high-profile openings at the centre and adds a new element to what’s already a powerful beauty offer at the location.

Opening in a space directly opposite Inditex’s new Bershka store, it’s in a large, high-traffic location and is clearly creating a buzz. While the pre-opening event was happening on Tuesday, large numbers of shoppers were gathering around the entrance. And post-event, this reporter popped into a nearby restaurant and on them spotting a Sephora bag, was mobbed by staff who said they couldn’t wait for it to open.

With the distinctive Sephora black and white branding draped strategically over the general area of the store, it’s clear that the opening will make an impact.

And it needs to. The mall already has a large Boots, a large Superdrug (relocated opposite Boots), a Body Shop, Jo Malone London, Aesop, Kiehl’s, L’Occitane, Lush, Molton Brown, Penhaligon’s, Rituals, The Fragrance Shop, The Perfume Shop, and  big beauty departments within stores such as John Lewis, M&S and House of Fraser (although the latter store is soon to close).

Of course, Sephora has its own unique image that gives it a strong position to start from. And it’s carrying UK-exclusive brands such as Sephora Collection, Makeup by Mario, Topicals, GXVE by Gwen Stefani, Haus Labs by Lady Gaga, One/Size by PatrickStarr, Tarte, Vegamour. Skinfix, Adwoa Beauty, Salt & Stone and Naked Sundays. 

The price range is wide too, from £7.99 Makeup by Mario eyeshadow palettes to £180 Tom Ford fragrances.
 

With the brand having previously tried to make it in the UK but pulling out around two decades ago, the current rollout — within which the Bluewater store is the seventh — is completely different and an undeniable success.

So FashionNetwork.com spoke to Sephora UK MD Sarah Boyd to find out why the general rollout is so strong and why Kent is the latest stop in its country-wide opening agenda.

One key factor in the overall success, she said, has been the strong awareness of the brand in advance.

“One of the things I would say is that over the past few years the strength of the brand globally,” she explained. “It has been a real powerhouse, so when we opened two years ago in the UK we did some consumer research, as you would expect, and as part of that we asked consumers whether they knew the brand, whether they liked the brand, and if they did like it, what they liked about it. 

“More than 50% of people, 54% in fact, knew about Sephora. They knew of us mainly from the US, also France and Dubai, but the US was first that was the reference point. Over the last 15-ish years the strength and the size of Sephora in the US and the strength of the brand has been absolutely astronomical so that has really helped.”

With high brand awareness and an existing successful online operation, demand was clearly high in the UK ahead of the first store opening.  

“People were desperate for us to come back before I came here,” Boyd added, saying she understood why. “I was looking after Sephora in Asia Pacific for a number of years and as an English person who also remembers when we were here in the UK 20 years ago I remember spending all of those six or seven years wondering why we weren’t back. The UK is the biggest premium beauty market in Europe. Last year we overtook France as the biggest. And it’s such an important strategic market for brands. It made complete sense. I knew we could be successful and we’re proving that now because the response has been amazing. The response from customers, the response from brand partners, from press, everybody, has been really strong.”

Establishing its online presence first helped Sephora a lot and set it up it as a successful UK business before its physical presence started. It means that when a new store is in the works, the excitement starts to build.

“If you look on social media whenever we talk about a new store opening, if you read down through the comments, so many of them are ‘please come to Liverpool’, ‘when are you coming to Manchester’, ‘when are you coming to Bristol’, or Edinburgh, or ‘we need one in Wales’.

“We wanted to recognise that while we have amazing e-commerce operations — more than 80% of the products order today will be delivered tomorrow, for instance — while we can do that very well, a big part of what customers expect is that physical store experience.”

And the company has been careful to not make it all about openings in and around London. 

“While being very inclusive [generally], geographic inclusivity is very important. We didn’t want to be a retailer that comes in and is London-centric. We wanted to make sure that as quickly as possible we got out [to the rest of the country]. Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham — those places are mad for beauty and people feel very recognised by the rollout and the speed of the rollout. Over the next couple of years all of the stores we open, with one possible exception, will be outside of London”.

So why is Bluewater the latest? “Kent as an example is relatively under-served by retail,” she feels. “Apart from Bluewater, you have high streets in towns and cities but you don’t have much big retail availability. This location is great — there’s dining, free parking, and by the way, it’s a really nice mall with lots of good openings recently. We’ve had a really good response online about it.”

If the pre-opening excitement was any guide, it looks like the company may have another success on its hands.