Cosmetics retailer Sephora has opened its first store in Malaysia operating with a fully mobile point-of-sale system as it continues to prioritise digital innovation via cross-channel payments.
With more than 2600 stores across 30 countries, Sephora embraces innovation across the entire customer journey – from online engagement to attentive personalised service for customers who shop in its stores. The company has a reputation for embracing technology in ways that make browsing, selecting, testing and paying for products as easy and comfortable as possible. When it comes to payments, the beauty retailer has been looking at payment technology as a complement to its in-store experience.
With that in mind, the newly refurbished store in the Suria KLCC shopping centre in downtown Kuala Lumpur has no cash registers. Customers can complete a purchase with any store employee on the shop floor, using handheld terminals from Adyen to process transactions by credit or debit card, or other digital payment methods.
Soon Yean Lee, country manager, Malaysia, with Adyen says the transition to terminals will enable Sephora to deliver a faster checkout process for shoppers, by removing queues and streamlining operations. For Sephora, it will also open the gateway to data-driven opportunities by capturing more information about the customer’s decision-making and purchasing process.
The new Kuala Lumpur Sephora store is one of the beauty retailer’s new-generation stores of the future, a format that made its regional debut in Singapore in September last year. It features interactive and experiential areas for customers to test the products, including The Play Table, The Care Table, The Skincare Lounge, and The Beauty School.
“This store is the perfect intersection of innovative and experiential elements where our customers can immerse and transform themselves in the absolute best of global beauty brands through a hyper-personalised retail approach,” Alia Gogi, president at Sephora Asia, said at the time the store opened its doors.
Indeed, visitors to these new-format stores in Singapore and Malaysia can move around the store, try different products, interact with staff and then simply check out via roving beauty advisors armed with Adyen’s AMS1 handheld terminals.
Sephora has long merged digital innovation with store experiences. Connecting online and offline sales channels, and updating in-person payment terminals, offer an array of benefits:
Streamlining in-store performance: Retailers like Sephora with large networks of stores across multiple markets can track individual store performance, harvesting transactional data that when analysed offers insights into the number of new or returning customers and can predict the level of return rates or refunds requested right down to individual stores.
Address shopper needs: With data, businesses can identify unexpected trends inside stores – such as getting an alert when a particular product is proving popular with older customers, for example. To make the most of such momentum, the retailer can move those items to a location more convenient for older customers.
Identify loyal customers: Real-time payment data helps retailers establish relationships with loyal customers. While for a typical retailer, 85 per cent of consumer purchases are made within physical stores, most such purchases are entirely anonymous. Payments data can identify repeat customers without the need for a loyalty program.
Research compiled as part of the Adyen Malaysia Retail Report 2023 shows there is a climate for tech-enabled services among both shoppers and retailers.
Of Malaysian businesses surveyed for the report, 68 per cent said offering experiences to customers when shopping helps turn browsing into spending – and 38 per cent of Malaysian consumers reported using brand apps to checkout and secure loyalty points.
More than half of the consumers (52 per cent) said their in-store experience was enhanced by speeding up the purchasing and payments process in stores.
