LAS VEGAS — Sephora is launching its app in ChatGPT through a U.S. pilot, with the goal of expanding globally.
The AI-enhanced experience will give customers advice and help them discover products with curated recommendations, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Shoppers will soon be able to use their Sephora loyalty rewards and member benefits including free shipping promotions and samples through ChatGPT. Future updates will include enabling payments and checkout directly within the app.
The objective is to bring the beauty retailer’s experience where the customer is inside ChatGPT, Anca Marola, global chief digital officer at Sephora, told an audience at Shoptalk Spring.
“The customer has never had this much opportunity and this much choice at his disposal,” Marola said. “So the stake for brands and retailers is — how do you remain that trusted beauty adviser for them, no matter the channel?”
ChatGPT users can ask beauty questions, then the app will recommend answers based on the user’s Sephora Beauty Insider profile if the user has elected to link their Beauty Insider account to the app.
“You cannot stop progress."
Anca Marola
Global Chief Digital Officer, Sephora
“By blending our digital retailer expertise with new AI tools, we are creating new seamless and conversational experiences that are not only efficient but helpful for beauty consumers,” Nadine Graham, Sephora North America general manager of e-commerce, said in a statement.
Channels will always continue to evolve, according to Marola, as they always have. “But, what will never change is the fact that a customer in beauty will always seek beauty advice from the people who know beauty best.”
Sephora and OpenAI are also exploring additional points of collaboration.
“You cannot stop progress. That’s the baseline,” Marola said. “So you either embrace progress or you don’t. The risk is in not embracing progress.”
