Sephora Unveils Innovation Lab, Nationwide Beacon Rollout

Sephora, a digital leader in beauty retail, has unveiled Sephora Innovation Lab, which will encompass both a physical space in San Francisco, as well as programs that foster the culture of innovation development and deployment along with grooming the next generation of digital leaders.

"Innovation has always been in our DNA," said Calvin McDonald, president and CEO for Sephora Americas. "The new Lab will tap the collective creativity of our 14,000 employees nationwide, grow the next generation of leaders, and elevate Sephora's digital future."

The Innovation Lab is a space where the team can ideate, test, dream, experiment and learn. As new ideas surface, the team will be responsible for sourcing, developing, evaluating, testing and eventually launching new offerings and technologies for shopping in the store and on-the-go.

"We're completely focused on making shopping more efficient, intelligent and fun for our clients," said Julie Bornstein, chief marketing and digital officer for Sephora. "We spend a lot of time walking in the shoes of our clients as inspiration for dreaming up new technologies and partnering with technology companies in the Bay Area to develop innovative solutions for new ways to shop."

The retailer is unveiling four new digital experiences:

• Beacons. Sephora will be deploying Beacons in-stores nationwide to deliver timely, personalized alerts to clients who opt-in. Shoppers can receive things like birthday alerts, loyalty program updates, and be notified when new trainings are happening in-store.
• Pocket Contour. A new digital experience in partnership with Map My Beauty. The first-of-its-kind, cross-platform personal virtual make-up artist application, takes the mystery out of contouring, a growing consumer trend in beauty. By analyzing a photo on mobile, the application can identify a shopper's face-shape, and give personalized step-by-step guidance on how to apply make-up for a contoured look.
• Augmented Reality. Clients can engage with custom content by hovering over nine brand founder faces, like Josie Maran, Laura Mercier, Kat Von D and others, featured in the Sephora windows and display cases with their smartphone. Scanning each image with augmented reality will show content options, like brand founder interviews, product videos, animated GIFs, YouTube playlists and product pages on Sephora.com, all without leaving the app.
• Sephora Flash. Allows customers free two-day shipping on all products. Flash is free for Rouge Beauty Insider members, and $10/year for all non-Rouge members.