Sephora Flash, Paris

Trust Sephora to take the concept of “showrooming” and turn it on its head.

With the opening of its new Flash concept store in Paris, the trend-setting beauty company entices shoppers to shop online – while inside the store.

Designed by Paris agency Intangibles, the result is a glossy, high-tech space, which Sephora calls ‘Concept 3.0’; its most digitally connected store ever.

The store has diminutive 140 sqm footprint – less than a tenth of the flagship store over on Champs Elysees – so you could be forgiven for thinking that this tiny outpost must offer a truncated shopping experience.

In fact, this is one of Sephora’s richest and most engaging stores.

Paris-based design agency Intangibles has crafted a high-tech retail experience for Sephora that turns the concept of showrooming on its head.

Though the new store’s physical display space is limited, with a mere 60 or so lines on display, it has a digital trump card: interactive terminals with one-touch access to any of the 14,000 products available on Sephora’s online store.

And it’s not just an eCommerce store wrapped in a shopfront.

The digital component is seamlessly integrated into the physical shopping experience.

Arriving at the store, customers can pick up both a traditional shopping basket, as well as a ‘digital shopping basket’ from a pint sized robot called Nao.

The credit card sized ‘Panier Digital’ has an embedded NFC card that functions as a digital shopping basket. You can load it up from activation nodes as you browse, and then pay for your items at the checkout for pick up or home delivery.

Customers can also pop in for a makeover at the lash and make-up bar – and are encouraged to snap a selfie with a connected wall-mounted mirror. Because it you can’t hashtag it, it didn’t happen.

Cool, connected and sophisticated, Sephora Flash is flashy in all the right ways.