PARIS — Sephora’s nomination of a latest chief executive officer, Guillaume Motte, comes at a pivotal time for the retailer and the wonder industry at large.

Sephora, the one prestige beauty seller with a world presence, is working in a swiftly changing, increasingly digital and competitive landscape.

“We appoint a latest CEO to take us to the subsequent level,” said Chris de Lapuente, who stepped back into that role following the abrupt departure last June of Martin Brok. De Lapuente has continued serving as chairman and CEO of the Selective Retailing division at Sephora’s parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Motte will turn out to be Sephora CEO on Jan. 1 and report back to de Lapuente.

“Our aspiration is to turn out to be essentially the most loved beauty community on this planet,” said de Lapuente. “His remit is now: Where will we go next from here? Our possibilities are still ginormous on this industry.”

Motte’s mission is to proceed growing Sephora’s sales — which industry sources estimate will surpass the ten billion euro mark in 2022 — market-share positions and energetic consumer count, while driving its omnichannel reach.

“As Sephora plans to double its business again in the subsequent five to 10 years, it’s going to be a mix of continuous to win in makeup, skincare and fragrances, but additionally adding latest categories,” said de Lapuente.

Hair care, body care and wellness are amongst latest product categories that is likely to be built upon.

To double business, it’s key for Sephora to realize market share in America and Western Europe, while becoming as distinguished in a market equivalent to Asia.

“Sephora has a giant opportunity in international expansion because it tries to push into latest markets within the U.K., and across Latin America and Asia. Success in latest markets may very well be huge for them, but it’s also a risk, as each country has its own dynamics and established competitors,” said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at data intelligence firm GlobalData Retail. “This downside is amplified by the very fact Sephora is embarking on this activity at a time when the worldwide economy is in decline.”

Sephora in 2021 ranked first worldwide amongst specialty beauty retailers when it comes to sales, followed by Ulta, Bath & Body Works and Douglas, in line with market research provider Euromonitor International.

Sephora, which also took pole position within the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East and Africa zone, has greater than 5 million visits a day to its stores and web sites combined.

In 2021, it opened greater than 200 stores, primarily in China, the Middle East and the U.S. Sephora’s digital drive keeps amping up, too. In June of that 12 months, as an illustration, Sephora and Zalando said they signed a long-term strategic partnership to create a prestige beauty experience online, starting in Germany.

Sephora has just returned to the U.K. after a 17-year hiatus. On Oct. 17, Feelunique.com, which Sephora acquired one 12 months ago, was transformed into sephora.co.uk. Sephora had left the U.K. in 2005 after staunch competition from retailers equivalent to Boots.

Nonetheless, the U.K. beauty market has subsequently modified, as has Sephora’s muscle. Partly two of its redux, a brick-and-mortar Sephora store will open in a yet-to-be disclosed London location in March.

In Latin America, Sephora ranked ninth last 12 months amongst beauty specialty stores, with O Boticário, Preunic and Maicao taking the lead, in line with Euromonitor.

Sephora opened five stores within the region in 2022, including in Mexico and São Paulo, and introduced brands equivalent to Kylie Cosmetics and Rare Cosmetics in Brazil.

China stays a difficult marketplace for all retailers because of ongoing coronavirus pandemic-induced closures. But on the Chinese island of Hainan, which became a beauty shopping mecca for the country’s denizens who can travel domestically, Sephora is opening its first store.

Also in China, and in Asia overall, Sephora is accelerating its omnichannel and digital presence.

In Singapore, Sephora debuted on Sept. 23 what it dubbed its “Asia store of the long run,” a 4,585-square-foot location within the Raffles City Shopping Mall. The shop is chockablock with tech, equivalent to interactive Play Tables for skincare and makeup. A second such unit is because of open next in Shanghai.

Altogether this 12 months Sephora is opening 16 stores in Asia, including three franchises in India.

Saunders believes most of Sephora’s challenges are external.

“One in every of the key difficulties comes from the tightening consumer economy,” he said. “Currently there are a number of signs that beauty sales are holding up well but this might change if the buyer decides they should in the reduction of.

“The opposite potential challenge comes from the U.S., where competition is intensifying as Ulta and others step up their expansion efforts,” continued Saunders.

Ulta Beauty’s business keeps powering ahead. The U.S. retailer reported that sales for the second quarter of its fiscal 12 months, ended July 30, rose 16.8 percent to $2.3 billion.

“Sephora has partnered with Kohl’s to expand its own distribution, but Kohl’s just isn’t in place, and there’s a risk that, over time, this might turn into one other J.C. Penney scenario, where Sephora finds returns from its shops-in-shop at Kohl’s diminish,” said Saunders.

Today, Sephora’s North American business is alleged to be strong, with ongoing momentum across all categories.

“In North America, Sephora has cracked the code on exactly what a state-of-the-art retailer should seem like. With modern products, compelling merchandising and a deeply engaging consumer experience — they’re winning,” said Laura Slatkin, founding father of Nest Latest York. “The challenge and opportunity ahead is to take that winning formula and globalize it. Guillaume brings highly relevant international beauty and retail expertise to each lead and succeed. The proper team is in place to get the job done. I actually have little doubt about it.

“As well as, Sephora’s off-mall growth strategy may be very clever — it brings in latest consumers and enables Sephora to expand their reach,” she continued. “For Sephora, every dollar earned at Kohl’s is totally additive — it’s a latest consumer, a distinct audience. Sephora is constantly searching for latest ways to expand their consumer base, ensuring its relevance domestically and internationally.”

“Sephora is more successful within the U.S., and I’m not surprised to see Artemis rising through the ranks,” said an industry source, referring to Artemis Patrick, who in August was promoted to executive vice chairman, global chief merchandising officer on the retailer. “I think her partnership with an LVMH veteran with international experience like Guillaume Motte could make a difference in accelerating Sephora’s performance by being open to applying applicable learnings of the U.S. successes to the remainder of the world of Sephora.”  

A distinctiveness Sephora should prioritize, in line with Saunders, is its product assortment.

“One in every of the things that differentiates Sephora is its modern ranges,” he said. “Customers love all the brand new finds and wonder solutions and these drive repeat visits and buying. Sephora should double down on finding and incubating latest brands.”

Also regarding brand mix, an industry source said it’s “critical” that the retailer strikes a balance between outside brands and people owned by LVMH, including Sephora’s private-label collection.

“They need all the time to steer between the conflicts of interest that exist of their retail channel,” the source said.

She added one other challenge facing Sephora and Motte is to widen European beauty consumers’ focus beyond heritage beauty brands to encompass indie labels more, like within the U.S.

Motte becomes Sephora’s CEO when the retailer has returned to its 2019 activity level.

“As he takes the leadership baton at Sephora, we’re poised to shut our best 12 months ever,” said de Lapuente. “We’re gaining market share in just about all our core markets and organization morale is high.”

Motte most recently has been deputy CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, a latest position he assumed in May 2021. In that role Motte reports to Sidney Toledano, chairman and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group.

Prior to that, Motte served as president of Sephora Europe and Middle East, starting in March 2018. There the manager was credited with accelerating the retailer’s omnichannel reach and robust brand-building with the likes of its inclusive campaign, called The Unlimited Power of Beauty.

Motte led Sephora back into Germany after a 16-year absence and inaugurated a latest flagship there.

Before joining Sephora he was CEO of French menswear chain Celio for 3 years. Motte also ran French women’s ready-to-wear brand Jennyfer for greater than six years and held positions at other corporations, including Al Tayer Trends, FNAC and McKinsey & Co.

Industry sources say Motte is well-respected, well-liked and highly strategic.

“He’s good at [imparting] a vision,” said an industry source. “Guillaume may be very analytical.”

As for management style, she said: “He’s [and modern] leader. Guillaume likes to grow people. He’s really the brand new generation of outlets.”

— With contributions from Jenny B. Superb