Sephora opens first retail store in Australia

French cosmetics major Sephora has opened its first retail store in Australia, promising cheaper prices on par with the US.

The new store in Sydney will be followed by one more in the city and two in Melbourne, before the company spreads in the country to open 20 stores by the end of next year.

Sephora will retail hair care, skin care and other cosmetics from its own private brand as well as from Marc Jacobs Beauty, Make Up For Ever, Skin Inc, and others.

The retailer said it will launch the new brands at cheaper prices but will not cut prices on existing brands such as L’Oreal, Lancome, Clinique, and Estée Lauder, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

Sephora parent company LVMH Asia and Middle East president for global luxury goods group Ravi Thakran was quoted by the media group as saying: "Many brands have done a disservice and many retail players have also done a disservice to the retail consumer.

"I believe the Australian consumer does deserve to be treated exactly the same (as US consumers) on that. It could be a short-term sacrifice for a long-term game and we certainly want to go for that."

"If a brand is already in the market we don’t tell them to give us a cheaper price (and) we don’t want to compete with department stores and other players based on lower pricing.

"But any brand we bring in we’ll bring that in with pricing equality (with the US)."