Marks & Spencer and Sephora are teaming up. The department store chain is set to offer the French beauty brand’s products online and in 100 physical locations. It’s a move that’s designed to attract younger shoppers to M&S, and data from YouGov Profiles shows that it could do just that.
Sephora’s demographic data shows it is more popular with younger consumers. Approximately half (51%) of its customers are aged 18-34 compared to around a quarter of the general public (27%); they’re also twice as likely to be aged 18-24 (21% vs. 10%). These customers are also more likely to be female (78%) than male (22%) and higher income (31% vs. 24%).
So what does M&S have to gain? As popular as the high street institution is with the public, it is even more popular with Sephora customers. While three in five Britons have a positive impression of the brand (61%), Sephora customers are markedly more likely to approve of it (84%).
Other metrics tell a similar story. Sephora customers are even more likely than the public at large to see Marks & Spencer as high quality (77% vs. 65%), consider the brand (69% vs. 59%) and already shop at M&S (73% vs 42%).
As for Sephora, while the beauty company may be celebrated on social media, this hasn’t yet translated to majority awareness: some 46% of the public know of the brand. If its level of familiarity grows, opinion could grow with it: 10% of Britons have a positive opinion of the brand and 2% are negative, but 34% of are neutral towards it.
However, M&S customers who recognise Sephora by name are better disposed towards the beauty retailer than the public at large: 27% are favourable towards the brand, while 13% would consider buying from it (compared to 5% of the general public).
Judging from our data, there may be immediate advantages to the collaboration on both sides – with Sephora benefiting from M&S’ popularity and profile, and M&S gaining greater access to a younger, social-media savvy audience in return.
Methodology
YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Marks & Spencer and Sephora's scores are based on daily surveys of UK adults. Data is weighted by age, gender, region, social grade, and ethnicity using a raking methodology.
