With spring-cleaning on everyone's minds these days, out with the old, in with the new is the sentiment of the moment. And it's especially true over at Sephora, as the beauty behemoth is unveiling a digital facelift to its online, mobile, and in-store experience today!
Over at Sephora.com, the company's S.F.-based, tech-savvy staff has been hard at work creating a new-and-improved search engine that is reminiscent of another Bay-based company, Polyvore. Basically, to help you find exactly what you're looking for, each product on the site has been tagged with over 25 attributes (anti-aging, color, ingredients, etc.), making it easier for you to search based on your needs. Once you've got the item you want, you can either check out online in half the time as before or search in-store availability at one of Sephora's 274 stores.
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Other cool new features on the site include an online magazine, dubbed The Glossy, (just click on the Trends tab), loads of integrated how-to videos, advice at your fingertips over in the Beauty Talk forum, and Pinterest "Pin It" buttons on every single product page.
The techy upgrades also continue to twenty of Sephora's larger stores (S.F.'s Union Square and NYC's Times Square included), which will be stocked with iPads, making it especially easy to navigate the free makeover offerings of the Beauty Studio counter — you can peep videos of the treatments before you commit — and check out the full range of features on each product before you buy (just scan the bottom and you're good to go!).
Plus, in addition to improvements on the Sephora iPad and mobile apps, by the end of the year, Sephora staffers at over 100 shops will be toting iPod Touches so that they can check out customers on the spot, à la the Apple store model. Because, let's face it, long lines are never a pretty sight.
Check it all out and then report back with your thoughts on the new site, in the comments.