Sephora CTO Says ‘Checkout of the Future’ Is as Much an Experience as a Transaction

With a purview of 500 physical stores in the US, 600 store-in-store locations at Kohl’s, a website, a mobile app and 14 years of digital experience, Sephora has a deep and diverse understanding of its customers.

Whether they’re buying online, in-store, getting delivery or using some curbside combination of channels, the beauty and cosmetic retailer’s Chief Technology Officer Sree Sreedhararaj told PYMNTS Editor-in-Chief Matt Nesto that a positive experience ultimately rules the day, and is more important than just the checkout.

“Beauty in general focuses on a lot more than just transactional aspects,” Sreedhararaj said. “It’s about experiences. It’s about discovery. It’s about the excitement,” he added, noting that beauty consumers are far more emotionally vested than, say, those buying toilet paper.

As such, he said, the checkout experiences in-store for beauty will continue to focus on seamless and convenient ways of handling those transactions, but moreover focused on the experience that the beauty retailer can give to the customer.

Many Channels, One Experience

For example, although buying makeup online, versus in person, presents unique challenges, Sreedhararaj said the company’s investment in tech, its ability to gather and surface highly personalized user-generated data, and then augment the shopping experience with live advisers, has resulted in consistent experiences regardless of channel — including rates of return.

“We haven’t seen increases in returns as such because of the experiences which we deliver and the information which we give to the client,” he said. “All of the [online] conversations that are happening on our digital channels are exactly the same as you would get in a store except that you are not within the four walls,” he said, noting the company’s ability to process both sales and returns in every channel.

To that point, last month the company announced it had partnered with FreedomPay to deploy a new touchless mobile POS system designed to enable Sephora’s clients to “have complete control over their checkout experience” a joint press release said, including digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

In addition, he said, Sephora’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), combined with a mix of specific beauty traits and images that users have submitted, as well as community data and product reviews, the company is able to quickly elevate highly personalized product recommendations that are relevant and drive better sales.

While acknowledging that there is “always room for improvement,” Sreedhararaj said Sephora is already “bumping up” or prioritizing reviews that match a user’s skin tone or quality. “We have seen a massive adoption of the omnichannel experience.”

May I Have Your Intention?

As Sreedhararaj tells it, there are only two reasons why customers visit its site. They’re either excited about new launches, new brands and what’s happening on the site, or know what they’re looking for and just want to go there quickly.

“So based on that intent, which we derive within a few seconds of consumer coming to the site, we then produce that information right in front of them so that it becomes an experience similar to the store.”

In the meantime, while he says his mind is thinking about upcoming trends such as NFTs and crypto payments, he’s more focused on “today solutions” including future payments and checkout technologies that provide seamless experiences both online and at retail.

“The consumer really doesn’t care whether you are selling [to them] in a particular store or even on social channels,” he said. “What they want is a seamless experience in every step of the shopping journey.”