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[SINGAPORE] While other retailers may have scaled back in Singapore, beauty giant Sephora is taking the opposite route: refreshing its brick-and-mortar stores and hitting record sales.

The French cosmetics chain debuted in South-east Asia when it launched its retail store in Singapore at Ngee Ann City in 2008. In a span of eight years, it expanded to 11 stores located across the island, including in the suburban areas of Jurong and Woodlands.

The beauty retailer has since maintained its presence in the city-state, with the number of brick-and-mortar stores remaining stable, and overall square footage inching up after some outlets underwent revamps.

Strategy in the Republic

Last September, Sephora reopened its Ion Orchard flagship store, located at basement 2. The revamped outlet spans 750 square metres (sq m) in selling space. This followed the reopening of its VivoCity store on level 1, which takes up 510 sq m of selling floor.

Overall, the selling space of the beauty retailer’s Singapore stores crept up 4 per cent on year to about 4,500 sq m.

Unlike other markets, such as Australia and Thailand, where Sephora invests in network expansion, the retailer’s strategy for its Singapore outlets is to double down on its existing stores.

“We want to ensure that the experience for our customers remains at its peak form,” said Jenny Cheah, Sephora’s managing director of South-east Asia, Oceania and India.

She added: “We felt that we needed a facelift as the (Ion outlet) has not been renovated for the last 10 years… and we thought that it is good to give it a fresh coat as we continue to evolve.”

While Ion’s refurbishment was expensive, Cheah said the revamp was needed as the outlet is key to the company’s financials. Sephora’s Ion branch was the top-performing store in South-east Asia in 2023, and it is among the top 20 stores in the world.

A bigger makeup playground for consumers, the refurbished space has zones for makeup brands, skincare, fragrances and haircare. The makeup and skincare ones are also anchored by beauty studios, where customers can try products without jostling for space.

The Ion store also carries more than 160 brands, of which 18 are new, including Kylie Cosmetics, Makeup By Mario and Kosas.

During the refurbishment process, stores were closed, affecting revenue, said Cheah. For example, renovation works for the Ion branch stretched to eight months. To keep business going, Sephora held a pop-up for one to two months at the empty space outside the mall’s Muji outlet.

The company’s bottom line also took a slight hit with higher rents. In the last quarter of 2024, retail rents rose by 0.6 per cent, compared with 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed. For the whole year, rents grew at a pace of 0.5 per cent, faster than the increase of 0.4 per cent in 2023.

However, the impact of higher rents and temporary store closures were offset by higher foot traffic and sales – thanks to the influx of tourists attending concerts, as well as collaborations with celebrity brands.

Tourist shoppers

In the first three quarters of 2024, tourists’ shopping spending made up 12 per cent of total retail sales (excluding motor vehicles). These numbers are due to the surge in visitor arrivals attributable to the exclusive six-night performances by musicians Coldplay and Taylor Swift in January and March, respectively, last year.

Partnerships with celebrities’ brands, such as Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty and Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs, also struck a chord with consumers – boosting Sephora’s average sales receipts.

In 2023, Sephora’s business in South-east Asia and Oceania grew two to three times faster than the beauty market. Last year, its business in South-east Asia, Oceania and India hit its internal revenue target, though Cheah declined to reveal figures. It was also reported in 2024 that the company was on track to double its revenue in the region in the next three years.

In a difficult climate for retail trade, the beauty market has emerged as a strong retail performer. Year on year, sales in the cosmetics, toiletries and medical goods segment grew 3.6 per cent in March, the latest data from the Department of Statistics showed.

For comparison, sales in the supermarkets and hypermarkets segment expanded 3.4 per cent, while motor vehicle sales increased by 3.3 per cent, and watches and jewellery rose 13.5 per cent.

“It’s not that our consumers won’t spend. It’s just that they need to see value in what they are spending, and I think that is important for us to offer value to our consumers,” said Cheah.

She pointed out that the beauty industry is constantly evolving as consumers prioritise wellness and become more aware of beauty due to social media platforms such as TikTok.

“The older generation definitely has much more disposable income, so they do spend on higher ticket items, whereas the younger generation has a higher frequency of spend,” she noted.

And while consumers can shop remotely via Sephora’s online platforms, they still frequent physical stores, she added.

“Online may be the first place where they do their research… but at the end of the day, they decide for themselves by coming into the store to try and test the product.”

Sephora’s growth in Singapore bucks a sobering trend of retailers exiting the market amid slowing sales and rising rents.

In 2023, fast fashion brand H&M shuttered its Ion store, along with other locations such as Tampines Mall and Waterway Point. Spanish fashion retailer Zara has six stores across the island now, after a round of closures in 2020. It also shuttered its Great World City outlet in 2022.

Other brands such as Forever21 exited Singapore in 2021, while Topshop/Topman closed its last outlet at VivoCity in 2020.

Sales in the wearing apparel and footwear segment declined 8 per cent in March, while that of food and alcohol contracted 5.1 per cent and department stores decreased 2.4 per cent. Restaurants sales fell 6.6 per cent, and cafes, food courts and other eating places logged a 4.2 per cent decline in sales.

Adequate coverage

While foot traffic at Sephora’s stores has been steady, the company does not have plans to open new outlets at this point in time.

“We see that our coverage is adequate at this point in time for our consumers. We have not had strong data suggesting that we are missing out on a great opportunity, and Singapore, being small, is very accessible,” said Cheah.

For regional outlets, such as those in Malaysia and Australia, Sephora will continue to invest in elevating the retail experience through various means, she added. These include enhancing existing stores, expanding its footprint, as well as improving its product differentiation strategy to bring new and highly sought after brands to consumers.

But in Singapore, which remains a key market for Sephora as it is a point of entry for many brands into the region, the company will focus on refreshing its fleet of stores in the coming years, such as those located in the suburban areas. “We want to take it at a pace that we believe will be congruent with the pace of business.”