The Cosmetics and Perfumes brand has been testing parapharmacy products for a few weeks in one of its Parisian stores.
In the Sephora store on boulevard Saint-Germain, in Paris, a new space discreetly appeared, soberly delimited by a canopy and by a light oak floor, which distinguishes it from black and white tiles characteristic of the rest of the shop. On displays, face creams, lotions, hair care, anti-aging serums. Nothing unexpected for a brand of cosmetics and perfumes, if not the referenced brands: Avène, René Furterer, A-Derma, Guarantor, Nuxe, etc. Classics that are usually found on the shelves of pharmacies and drugstores.
Recently, they are now also sold in the beauty brand. This furtive arrival on the parapharmacy market is still only in “experimentation phase”, specifies the subsidiary of the LVMH group. The Parisian store on boulevard Saint-Germain, in the 6 e de Paris, is the only point of sale, out of the three hundred stores in France, to offer this new range of products. “No decision has been taken to date on a possible enlargement”, details Sephora, for whom this diversification is part of the desire to “offer its customers and customers an offer of the widest prestige products and Relevant possible in order to meet all desires and all needs “.
worries of pharmacists
If the experiment is still restricted in store, it is accompanied by a wider deployment on its online sales site: more than 500 dermo-cosmetics products in facials, body and hair are Proposed in its sub-arglets entitled “Parapharmacy”.
By hunting on the land of pharmacies and parapharmacies, Sephora takes the risk of exposing themselves to the anger of some of these professionals, who are still irritated, after almost four decades, from entry to This mass distribution market since the opening of the first parapharmacies of the Leclerc group. Pharmacists, who draw part of their income from these products sold at free prices – unlike drugs – are worried about these competitors who have a more extensive commercial strike force. Pharmazon, a power plant for pharmacies, denounces in particular a confusion of genres between perfumery and drugstore, which would distort the profession of pharmacist.
The Incursion of Sephora on the market, however, is not a first in France. Other signs of cosmetics and perfumes, including Marionnaud or Nocibé, baitted by the success of the sales of these articles with the general public, have launched this market in recent years.