Sephora debuts in Korea, plans to run seven stores by 2020

Beauty and fashion powerhouse LVMH’s cosmetics retailer Sephora opened its first store in Korea in the capital’s posh Gangnam on Thursday. 

The brick-and-mortar Sephora store is located inside Parnas Mall in Samseong-dong, showcasing some 100 different cosmetics and perfume brands including its own Sephora collection.

“Korean market has the most vibrant, dynamic and trend-savvy customers who have high understanding of beauty products,” said Benjamin Vuchot, president of Sephora Asia. 

“We will make Sephora Korea become the most loved beauty community in Asia,” Vuchot added.

According to Sephora Korea, it has put extra attention into introducing exclusive brand lineups.

This will allow customers to directly purchase overseas items at Sephora, instead of overseas shopping, which the beauty retailer said is the key competitiveness of Sephora Korea over local health and beauty stores.

Some of those 40 exclusive brands include Tarte, Huda Beauty, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Zoeva and Smashbox. 

“We are going to develop unprecedented products and service at Sephora Korea, as well as open a new chapter of the Korean beauty industry by playing a role of a beauty trend platform to spread K-beauty trend globally,” said Sephora Korea CEO Kim Dong-ju.

Sephora Korea said it plans to open the second store in Myeong-dong in December and the third store in Sinchon, both in Seoul.

By opening six more stores by 2020, the beauty retailer said it will operate 14 stores by 2022, as well as an online store.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)