Dive Brief:
- Ahead of the holiday season, Sephora has rolled out an unlimited same-day delivery membership, according to details emailed to Retail Dive.
- Dubbed “Sephora Same-Day Unlimited,” shoppers can pay $49 per year for delivery on all purchases “in as little as two hours.” Customers can try the program for free for 30 days.
- The retailer noted that those who are out of range of the service can still receive free shipping with no minimum purchase through its loyalty program. Same-day delivery is also available on a one-off basis starting at $6.95.
Dive Insight:
Sephora is betting that beauty emergencies will drive interest in a same-day delivery membership for its shoppers.
The company cited a study Sephora conducted in June this year indicating that 63% of beauty shoppers would use same-day delivery if they ran out of a product and needed an immediate replacement. The same study found that delivery within hours was the most desired service by respondents.
Enter: Sephora’s unlimited same-day delivery program. The service does have a local cutoff time to be able to receive orders by the end of the day, and is not available everywhere. Customers who sign up for the service will receive reward points from Sephora’s Beauty Insider loyalty program, and the subscription will renew annually unless shoppers cancel it.
This isn’t Sephora’s first experience with same-day delivery: In 2020, the beauty retailer teamed up with Instacart to offer quick delivery for beauty, skincare and wellness products. At the time, retailers were swiftly rolling out delivery and pickup services as shoppers avoided physical stores.
The beauty retailer also recently added a free shipping perk to its loyalty program that gives shoppers free shipping with no purchase minimums, and offers an auto-replenishment feature that allows customers to receive their favorite products “on their preferred timeline.” The replenishment service gives customers a 5% discount, along with free shipping.
Sephora’s same-day delivery subscription comes as the beauty retailer is rapidly expanding its store footprint through a partnership with Kohl’s. The companies have roughly 600 shop-in-shops now open, and are planning to expand the concept to all 1,100 Kohl’s stores.
