Sephora Upgrades Online Retail Operations As Segment Posts Strong Growth In Australia

Sephora revamped its online retail operations by upgrading its online store, adding specialized search functions, enhanced its mobile Web and iOS apps, and putting iPad tablets in more than 100 of its bricks-and-mortar retail stores. Also, the retailer has expanded its social media presence, with its Pinterest followers spending 15 times more than its Facebook followers. Sephora's online moves reflect the transformation of the retail industry as a whole. In Australia, for example, online sales grew 27 percent to $13 billion in the year ending January 2013, according to the National Australia Bank's latest Online Retail Sales Index report. Market channels are becoming less distinct, with shoppers using their smartphones to check prices of merchandise while they are actually in the store, and consumers using their smartphones, tablets, desktop PCs, or going to the retail store depending on the time of the day.