It's been a long wait but Sephora will throw open it's doors to Australian consumers for the first time today in Pitt St Mall, Sydney.
To mark the opening they have kicked off a dialogue regarding how much Australian women (and men!) are paying for cosmetics.
The world's largest cosmetics retailer claims women have been paying too much - and announced plans to do something about it.
It has committed to adopting cheaper American prices on new brands it brings to this country such as Marc Jacobs Beauty, Tarte, Skin Inc and Formula X and its Sephora private label range, even if it means accepting smaller margins.
"That's a big promise and we will certainly keep that - that's a real bone of contention to Aussie consumers," said Ravi Thakran, Asia and Middle East president for global luxury goods group LVMH, which owns Sephora.
"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."
It should be noted Sephora has no plans to undercut local retailers on existing brands such as L'Oreal, Lancome, Clinique, Estée Lauder, M.A.C and Clarins, which represent about one-third of its sales overseas.
Prices for most of these products are still 10 to 20 per cent higher than those in the US, even after two years of "price harmonisation" by the major cosmetics and skincare brands in collaboration with Myer and David Jones.
"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," Mr Thakran said.
"But any brand we bring in we'll bring that in with pricing equality [with the US]."
Sephora plans to roll out about 20 stores, starting with two flagship stores in Sydney and two in Melbourne, and is considering establishing a dedicated Australian online store.
Sephora has opted to open stand-alone stores, rather than entering into joint ventures or opening concession stores in David Jones or Myer.
Sephora's pricing strategy is bound to put more pressure on cosmetics and skincare prices across the market over time by highlighting the differential between Australian and overseas prices.
Myer and David Jones currently account for about 60 per cent of the premium cosmetics market and beauty and cosmetics represent about 15 to 20 per cent of their sales.
The pair have responded to Sephora's entry by reducing prices, signing exclusive department-store only supply agreements, adding services such as brow bars, waxing and threading, opening beauty clubs, and making exclusive offers to loyalty program members.
