CH5 DEveloping A Global VIsion

Sephora is ahuge multinational company.As first Sephora was store was opened in Demagos, France in 1970, 30 years later Sephora chain has 1300 stores in 17 countries. The variation of brands is very significant as well around 250, along with their own brand. As  Sephora started their online business expending its  operations over 1,300 stores in 27 countries worldwide.

Sephora's first step in the way  to the international market, opening its first flagship store in New York City in 1998. The company then began to target expansion into the European market. Italy became one of the company's first targets, and it began buying up a number of smaller chains in that country. The company's acquisitions in Italy included Kharys in 1998, the 46-store Laguna chain in 1999, and Boidi, a chain of 19 perfume stores in 2000. By 2005, Sephora operated more than 100 stores in Italy, including its Milan flagship location, opened that year.

Sephora also renewed its international expansion drive. In 2004, the company boosted its presence in Eastern Europe, buying up the Empik perfume chain in Poland, then forming a partnership with leading Russian perfumery L'Etoile to bring the Sephora format to that market

Although Company had problems with launching their business in Japan. Management had a  number of mistakes that fallowed one by one like wrong customer targeting, wrong product targeting, misunderstanding of Japanese culture.

The result is company's losses in its final year operations were over $50 million (Weil and Hirano, 2001).Decision was made to withdraw from Japan as a move to be in conformance to its new strategy of 'achieving profitable growth' by venturing into new markets where it can eventually gain significant market share. The management  decided to focus on Europe and key region in the United States where it had major market positions.

Although Sephora failed in Japan, it is evident that the company has learnt from its past mistakes, for when it attempted a second entry into Asia through establishing itself in China the luxury retailer performed a series of market research activities structured around different aspects of the Chinese market. The company adapted its marketing mix to amalgamate more cohesively to the Chinese culture.

arch the company realized that the Chinese consumer, similar to the Japanese have a preference to body care over perfume. Further the company changed its target demographics to be 25-40 which they identified as the segment with an estimated highest growth rate in terms of purchasing power. The company has further identified the color association of red in Japanese people by changing packaging from their signature black and white to pink and violet during the Chinese New Year, signifying happiness and prosperity.

 The steady success of the line of Sephora branded products led the company to announce its plans to emphasize the future development of the brand.

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