Sephora to open in highly competitive centre

Sephora will look to Queensland for its first Australian store opening of 2018, announcing plans to open a location in QIC’s highly competitive Robina Town Centre in May.

It will be Sephora’s 14th store launch in Australia since bringing its offer Down Under at the start of 2015.

With the likes of Myer, David Jones, L’Occitane, Lush, Priceline and The Body Shop already trading in the centre, competition will be fierce.

But the beauty brand will look to sweeten the deal for its sunshine coast customers by introducing a new virtual artist within the store, which will allow customers to virtually try on products.

Sephora Country Manager Libby Amelia said the Robina opening followed the success of its Pacific Fair store, opened in 2016, and would provide customers with an experience-focused offer.

“Our teams of talented beauty advisers are on-hand to provide foundation matching and a wide variety of makeup services, but the beauty of Virtual Artist is that you can try on hundreds of colours all on your own, and from the traction we have via our app, we know our customers absolutely love it,” Amelia said.

The Robina store will be the first Sephora in Australia to trade with the technology, although a broader roll out is anticipated.

Sephora will also trade a range of exclusive brands in the new store such as Fenty Beauty, Huda and Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Robina Town Centre general manager Shaine Beveridge said he was happy about the addition of Sephora to the centre.

“We are delighted to welcome global cosmetics retailer Sephora to our growing and diverse portfolio,” he said.

“The addition of this internationally renowned brand signals another exciting chapter for our Centre as we continue to strengthen our retail offer.”

Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.