April 18th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
A fair bunch of things have happened since Sephora landed on British shores, for the second time after exiting the market back in 2005. With the acquisition of the beauty retailer FeelUnique in 2021, Sephora launched online in Great Britain on 17 October 2022 and more recently, opened a new store in London.
We explore YouGov data to see whether the brand has managed to get Britons curious about it.
According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Sephora’s Ad Awareness score has grown in recent months. The score - which indicates how many and which consumers are noticing the brand’s advertising - grew from 1% on 1 January 2023 to 4% on 11 April 2023.
Similarly, the retailer’s Attention score - which measures the total number of consumers who have heard anything positive or negative about the brand - grew by two percentage points in the same period, from 2% to 4%. However, Sephora’s Word of Mouth Exposure score - which asks if consumers have talked about a brand with friends and family in the past two weeks - remains unchanged.
We also look at YouGov Profiles data to explore consumers’ attitudes towards advertising and health and beauty.
Examining their receptiveness and attention to out-of-home advertising reveals that respondents who have either shopped from Sephora or would consider doing so tend to agree with the statement that they “notice adverts in trains” (74%). In comparison, 45% of the general British population agrees with the statement.
Another 65% of this group agrees with the statement that “posters/billboards help me to become aware of new products and services,” along with 46% of the general population.
Sephora’s current customers or those who might consider the brand are more likely than the general population to agree with the statement that “when it comes to beauty products, I stick to what I know” (75% vs 55%). At 57%, they are also significantly more likely to agree with the statement that they “closely follow famous people/celebrities for fashion trends” than the general population (15%).
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Sephora’s Ad Awareness score is based on the question: Which of the following retailers have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks? and delivered as a percentage. Its Attention score measures whether respondents are hearing positive or negative buzz about the brand and delivered as a percentage. Its WOM Exposure score is based on the question: Which of the following retailers have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks? and delivered as percentage. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 1100 GB adults between 1 January 2023 and 11 April 2023. Figures are based on a two-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for GB is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash