Blog Post Week 3// Social Listening

 

I chose the company “Sephora”, a very well known makeup company who sells many other makeup companies products and have now realized a makeup line of their own. I am very interested in this brand myself since I have been a customer of this brand for many years and have been able to see its evolution and upgrades throughout the years. It is one of the highest makeup companies on the charts due to its high prices but loyal customer base. People recently on Instagram and TikTok have said that Sephora itself should carry more of certain products. Since they sell from other brands in order to make money, they only get limited amounts since they must buy it from the seller. I am guessing that since they buy from so many brands, it can be hard to restock and know how much of what to buy. Sephora is now very trendy on both Instagram and TikTok since most “influencers” are the ones who review products and upload that content for potential buyers. People like to watch this in order to see if products from here are worth their money since they can get very expensive. 

The purpose and value of Sephora is to sell products that they buy from very well known makeup brands in order to catch the attention of beauty gurus or makeup artists. The products they sell are always very high end and value up to a lot of money due to it’s very good products used in the makeup they sell. They give out so many samples of a variety of products and people really enjoy that about this company and this has become a known thing that Sephora does. Instead of paying $50+ for a certain small product you get a good size tester for free when you shop with them or get access to their app. 

One thing that has been said badly about Sephora recently is that their travel size products are not worth it since they are usually below 2 ounces worth of product and they sell it for up to $30. People don’t like paying that much for such a small amount that won’t even last them a month. Another thing that has been said about this company is that their return policies aren’t strict and they should be. You can return a product within 30 days even after it is opened and used but then Sephora only gives it a wipe and puts it back on its shelves. This became known after Covid-19. It can be hard for Sephora to just throw out these products after being returned since they cost so much but for the customer wanting a clean product that has never been used can be dangerous and can cause infections quickly even if the product is known to be “clean”. I understand both sides but since I am a customer I would like to see clean and never used products when I wish to buy them. Lastly, another thing that has been said is that Sephora has created an “abusive” environment. This has been said because people on social media have been mean about makeup looks, especially influencers and beauty gurus. This has created entertainment for viewers on social media. Here are the articles backing up information on these facts. 

https://www.thelist.com/158935/the-biggest-scandals-to-hit-sephora/ 

https://nypost.com/2022/07/26/i-worked-at-sephora-you-dont-want-to-do-these-things-in-the-store/ 

https://www.byrdie.com/sephora-facts 

This company continues to promote makeup of course but they have also now grown with their skin products and what they sell. They now have been selling companies that only sell products for both skin and even hair. Them selling this has also helped them with growing their audience because now estheticians and hair stylists buy products here for best quality. A new way that Sephora now sells is due to them reaching out to influencers and paying them to promote new products on social media since everyone is on their everyday. 

Since Sephora is one of the biggest makeup companies and their reputation is pretty set, they usually have just grown how diverse they are with their models and makeup skin tones. They usually only resell from brands that carry many skin tone shades and even a variety of colors on makeup palettes. They do this in order to reach out to as many customers they can get. This has helped them be very successful and at the top of the selling makeup charts. They have also added many new brands that they resell from in order to have as much to sell as possible for different kinds of people with different styles. Something they have dealt with in past years is people complaining that they only would market to famous people or makeup artists. This has changed since they have more of an interaction with customers now including with “samples” and “birthday gifts” they always offer. Their primary way of marketing is on social media and also billboards such as Times Square. 

Sephora connects with their customers as much as possible and makes for shipping to be free and refunds and returns to be very easy even if used. These types of rules are very flexible for the customer which is what continues to make them come back. If a customer did not like a product they don’t throw all of the blame on Sephora since that's just the company that resold this product from another brand. That saves them a lot of complaints in the end. This is why their reputation has become very good. 

If I was a company manager I would make sure to get more posts asking for what people want to see more of in order to have the best interactions as possible with all customers. This is not something that Sephora does now. 

From this assignment I noticed how well Sephora has done over the past few years and how diverse they have become after being asked. This made me realize that this is a very well paid company and it may be something I would like to work for in the future since I enjoy makeup, hair, and skin products and have been a customer for years.