Sephora dribbles obstacles and finca feet in the country

São Paulo-Completing five years in the country, the French foreign crisis arises Sephora and accelerates its expansion plans. To perform their goals-involving the arrival of new brands and opening more stores-the retailer faces tax disparities and high industry adjustment factors that make Brazil the jaboticaba '' operation world ''.
"A year ago you enter and have not exempting the other has. You enter a year and might benefit from a GST different in a State and the next year. It is very difficult to explain to the international market. They ask how that changes so dramatically from one year to the next, "says the General Director in Brazil and Senior Vice President for Latin America of Sephora, Flavia Banerjee to the DCI, during the event which celebrated five years of operation of the brand within Brazil
Even after completing the '' wood '' anniversary in the national territory, the retailer, which is owned by the holding company LVMH, still surprises with the asymmetry about the international rules of import, which increases the costs of the operation.
According to the Executive, of issues related to expiration date-which in Brazil is told from manufacturing and product-opening not to change the rules of business in the course of the operation, called "Blueberries" in the country, have not improved in recent years and are a difficulty to any international network that works with imported products.
Still worth investing
Despite the operational difficulties, she comments that the network will not slow down within the country. On the contrary, one of the sources for expansion of the network will be the Northeast region, where the Sephora intended to enter only in 2020 but already has two stores and a kiosk. "We were going to wait a bit to get to the Northeast but we came in before as opportunities arose I couldn''t lose. Now we''re there we will continue expanding, "says Flavia. Currently, the network has operations in Salvador (BA) and Recife (PE).
In total, the brand opened three stores and five kiosks in 2017 and expects more a kiosk in the second half, totaling 33 points of sale, being 24 shops and nine kiosks. "In the second half we will focus in kiosks. Try not to open stores in this period because of the holidays and because it is a period that we received new brands and this gives a stirred in stores. By the end of the year we expect four new brands ", anticipates. Among the new features that are coming in are Tom Ford perfumes network.
About long-term plans, Flavia tells that there is a pressure of LVMH with respect the goals of new shops of the network. "Depends on the opportunity. Not only a city, but to find the right space, "he says. Even so, she admits that there are still opportunities to expand in São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and consumers will be able to see what''s new in these cities in 2018. "In Brazil, at least 100 Sephora stores fit, meaning that we have a long way to go".
Expectations
Even without being able to reveal numbers, she comments that the projection for this year is to move forward. "We''ve grown every year two digits and we will continue at this rate," he predicts. According to the Executive, the growth in same-stores which are operations with more than 12 months-varies depending on the seasonality, but the results have surprised.
According to her, the economic and political instability caused a decrease in the flow of visitors in malls, which also affects the shops, but still this year the network expects increased sales. The reason for the resilience, according to her, is the model of the store. "People ask me how we get through the crisis, and I have no competitors. The fact is that I don''t see any shop offering the experience that you have inside of Sephora. "
Inside the store
In respect to operation at the store, she mentions that there is no commissioning of sellers, uncommon practice in Brazil. "The trend in retail is that the service is increasingly professionalized and is part of this cycle," he says.
An example of this, she tells that Sephora stores aimed at a lot of the customer experience, with a focus on what he knows and test the products, very well accepted by the Brazilian movement. "I have more than 65% of the people visiting our stores from one to two times a month."
In addition to this focus on consumer experience, in Brazil the Sephora also adopted more aggressive policies to your own brand, the Sephora Collection. "We have always been a input tag in every country in the world, but here we made a point that this entry price was equal to national brands. We seek the most bought and tried similar values ". According to her, the brand has a relevant participation in sales in Brazil than in other countries.