Sephora Coming to Australia

I just wish that they would now spread out into smaller shops around Australia!

A new store is opening at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre which is the first store on the Gold Coast.

I just wanna rant about my experience with Sephora but didn’t wanna start a new thread. I placed an online order 2 April, and it hasn’t arrived yet. No one answer their hotline and they included me in their email to the courier. Bad experience really, my first and last time. Apparently they ship from Singapore.

Looks like we’re finally getting our online Sephora store, along with a loyalty program called Beauty Pass. Yay!

I just noticed this on the Sephora website, I thought other Sydneysiders might be interested.

Pasted from http://www.sephora.com.au/beauty-night-in/cid20217.html

BEAUTY NIGHT IN!

Get ready for a glamorous evening of beauty offers, services and entertainment as SEPHORA hosts the ultimate BEAUTY NIGHT IN for VOGUE FASHION’S NIGHT OUT!

This exciting event will take place on Thursday 3 September from 5-9pm in store at SEPHORA Sydney. Bring your best girlfriends and join the fun!

What to expect on the night:

Exciting beauty offers
Sweet treats
Photo-booth
Makeovers
Express manis
Hair styling
Skin services
Fragrance consultations and samples
Hand and arm massages
Naturopath mini-consultations
AND MORE!

So has anyone else been?
What was customer service like?
Range?

I am off to NSW at the end of the month with some friends and Sephora is one of the things on our whirlwind visit 🙂

Did anyone see A Current Affair tonight? I don’t usually watch it (it’s pretty trashy isn’t it!) but I knew there was a story about Sephora. They promised us US prices, but now they are saying that they want to get their stores up and running first, and then they will reduce prices. What a croc!
Sephora you have the chance to totally change the Australian beauty industry. Don’t stuff it.
Very disappointing. I’m not sure if I’m as desperate to go there now.

I only found out about the ACA report from blogger Kitsch Snitch, whose Sephora rant video was used by ACA without proper credit (great ACA journalism…)

But I just knew the whole ‘matching US prices’ claim was too good to be true. I agree their official statement is just rubbish.

Brief Price overview.
Laura Mercier primers $33 usd. ($35 aud)
Sephora Singapore $55sgd ($43.88 usd or $47 aud)
The retail in Australia is $45.

I would think Sephora are pricing Australia inline with the Singapore (Asian market)
The lady in the article is in charge of Asia pacific it seems.

This was my finding on sephora Singapore on page 4 of this thread, obviously the exchange rate has fluctuated since, however still gives a good overall indication.

A statement just put out by Sephora via their FB page regarding the recent criticism they’ve been receiving:

SEPHORA Australia acknowledges the concerns that have recently been expressed in the media about the pricing of certain products at our recently opened Sydney store. This is a matter that Sephora Australia takes very seriously and Sephora Australia welcomes the feedback that has been provided.

SEPHORA Australia maintains an active policy of price review and rationalization on a regular basis to ensure we remain competitive in this market, one to which we are wholly committed. We will continue our price review process taking into account the feedback that has been provided.

SEPHORA Australia is also pleased to introduce several new brands to this market, and in so doing, provide greater choice overall to the Australian consumer. We believe our contribution builds the local market, and we are committed to continuously improving this accessibility for the pleasure of our customers. We look forward to expanding our operations into the future over time.

In closing, we thank our loyal fans and all customers alike for the overwhelmingly positive response to our entry here into Australia, and wish all a very Merry Christmas.

You beat me to it T&T. I was just about to post about that. If you read the comments, you’ll see that there’s not a lot of love out there for Sephora right now. It’s such a shame isn’t it. Bottom line is, they have lied to us. Not happy Jan!

It would probably be cheaper for me to fly to Singapore (from Darwin) to visit Sephora. Not sure what the prices are like there. The flights are cheaper, and I’ve never been to Singapore. Hmmm, interesting thought….

The statement is BS, I don’t think it addresses the concerns people have regarding sephoras price match promise??
As for some people saying prices are not to bad when you factor freight forwarders/shipping etc in. I don’t believe we should do that a price match promise is strictly that.
If myer/DJs etc price match their competitors they don’t tell you they need to add $5+ To cover additional fuel/bus/taxi fare you would have paid if you had to go to to store with the better price!!!

As for Singapore sephora, my experience there was that is was Australian type prices. on Laura Mercier and other brands available here. There was the benefit of receiving tax off at the register when you spent over $100 SGD (can’t remember exactly the amount)

A statement just put out by Sephora via their FB page regarding the recent criticism they’ve been receiving:

SEPHORA Australia acknowledges the concerns that have recently been expressed in the media about the pricing of certain products at our recently opened Sydney store. This is a matter that Sephora Australia takes very seriously and Sephora Australia welcomes the feedback that has been provided.

SEPHORA Australia maintains an active policy of price review and rationalization on a regular basis to ensure we remain competitive in this market, one to which we are wholly committed. We will continue our price review process taking into account the feedback that has been provided.

SEPHORA Australia is also pleased to introduce several new brands to this market, and in so doing, provide greater choice overall to the Australian consumer. We believe our contribution builds the local market, and we are committed to continuously improving this accessibility for the pleasure of our customers. We look forward to expanding our operations into the future over time.

In closing, we thank our loyal fans and all customers alike for the overwhelmingly positive response to our entry here into Australia, and wish all a very Merry Christmas.

You beat me to it T&T. I was just about to post about that. If you read the comments, you’ll see that there’s not a lot of love out there for Sephora right now. It’s such a shame isn’t it. Bottom line is, they have lied to us. Not happy Jan!

It would probably be cheaper for me to fly to Singapore (from Darwin) to visit Sephora. Not sure what the prices are like there. The flights are cheaper, and I’ve never been to Singapore. Hmmm, interesting thought….