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Retailer Profiling: Sephora
French retailer Sephora (LVMH Group) has a chain of 420 stores in Europe and Asia and 120 stores in the United States of America.. The average size of the stores is 300 sq. metre which may go up to 1500 sq. metre as in the case of Sephora at the
Champs Elysee, Paris. Informs Laetitia Rambaud, spokesperson, Sephora, “in Europe the split between products carried by stores corresponds to the market split of 60% fragrances and 20% each for both makeup and skincare, whilst in the US Perfume stands at 20% and makeup and skincare share the rest”. She further adds “this basically reflects the different beauty habits in regions across the world be it the US, Europe or Asia”. Italy is an important market with 100 stores and in Poland Sephora nearly holds sway over 50% of the market.
Amongst brands, private label leads in term of turnover and quantities being “an accessible line and very creative” feels Rambaud, “but of course all the selective brands are the biggest part of our business. Exclusive brands are also more and more important in our stores”.

The perfumery chain is known for value added services and innovations and emphasizes Rambaud “we are very innovative in proposing a lot of services in our stores knowing that our store have become a place to experiment, to test, to learn. We have developed many “bars”- brow bars, nails bars peelings bars, smile bars with all of them being very accessible (low prices and no appointment).“

Gujarat Govt. to outsmart Organised Retailers
The Government of Gujarat plans to open or upgrade around 1,000 fair price shops into new-look retail stores by March 2007, and another 2,200 in the next financial year, in public-private partnership. Gujarat currently has 15,993 fair price shops in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas. The minimum standard space for each new-look shop is 400 sq. ft. with basic facilities such as toilets, drinking water, sitting arrangements for the customer and at least four windows and so on. They would cater to the shopping needs mainly at the local level. The shops would sport a new logo and common design strategy.
There would be one such fair price shop for a population of 2,000 in the rural areas and every 5,000 in urban areas so that the maximum walking distance to the shop does not exceed three km. Retailer Profiling: Sephora The concept is a multi-level plan to establish higher level of accountability and to attract customers, giving them
quality products packaged with minimised instances of lesser weight and adulteration.
At present, the State Government plans to open or upgrade 3,224 new fair price shops out of which orders have already been issued for 2,342 shops. The new scheme is a multi-level plan to make fair price shops viable business centres that would also continue to perform their original duty — supplying essential commodities to the people living below the poverty line (BPL) and holding ration cards at subsidised rates. Loose items such as sugar and wheat would be supplied to the beneficiaries at subsidised rates, but those seeking to buy packaged items would get these at normal rates as applicable to other customers.

Village Malls planned
Besides upgrading these fair price shops in a phased manner, the State French retailer Sephora (LVMH Group) has a chain of 420 stores in Europe and Asia and 120 stores in the United States of America.. The average size of the stores is 300 sq. metre which may go up to 1500 sq. metre as in the case of Sephora at the Champs Elysee, Paris. Informs Laetitia Rambaud, spokesperson, Sephora, “in
Europe the split between products carried by stores corresponds to the market split of 60% fragrances and 20% each for both makeup and skincare, whilst in the US Perfume stands at 20% and makeup and skincare share the rest”. She further adds “this basically reflects the different beauty habits in regions across the world be it the US, Europe or Asia”. Italy is an important market with 100 stores and in Poland Sephora nearly holds sway over 50% of the market. Amongs brands, private label leads in term of turnover and quantities being “an accessible line and very creative”
feels Rambaud, “but of course all the selective brands are the biggest part of our business. Exclusive brands are also more and more important in our stores”. Government is also preparing to set up‘Village Malls’ to cater to the needs of a cluster of villages, as a bridge between the city malls and the village.

Travel Retail : the Next Big Swing for Indian Retailers
Travel Retail seems to be catching the fancy of the big Indian retailers like Shoppers Stop and Pantaloon. Whilst, Shoppers’ Stop will be there in a venture with Swiss airport retailer Nuance(now with Italian retail group), and Pantaloon has tied up with UK based Alpha Airports to set up duty-free shops and offer food and drink. Nearly 30 % of sales at duty free shops in west Asia are said to come from the Indian Subcontinent. Retailers now want to turn these waiting passengers into shoppers.
Pantaloon and Shoppers’ will bid for retail space at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai airports. Pantaloon says it will invest between USD 8-16
million at each airport.