Dive Brief:

• Joining other retailers in curating beauty selections, J.C. Penney announced J.C. Penney Beauty, an in-store and online beauty hub that will feature a mix of mass, masstige and prestige products. To kick off the venture, the retailer is featuring Thirteen Lune as J.C. Penney Beauty's flagship brand, according to company information emailed to Retail Dive. 

• J.C. Penney Beauty will launch at select store locations and on its website in October, with a nationwide store rollout beginning in fall 2022 and an expansion continuing through 2023. It will feature more than 30 beauty brands created by founders of color and allies across skincare, hair and other product categories. J.C. Penney Beauty will integrate with its salon business, per the announcement. 

• J.C. Penney will continue its partnership with Sephora through late next year, according to a J.C. Penney spokesperson. 

Dive Insight: 

The partnership between J.C. Penney and Thirteen Lune marks Thirteen Lune's first brick-and-mortar retail venture.

11 Honoré founder and CEO Patrick Herning and Nyakio Beauty founder Nyakio Grieco launched Thirteen Lune last December, an e-commerce platform that showcases beauty brands created by founders of color. Ninety percent of the brands carried by Thirteen Lune are BIPOC-founded, while the other 10% are brands that exhibit allyship to create substantive change outside of the beauty industry. 

"Together with J.C. Penney, we are able to reach so many more consumers with our inclusive beauty mission and product assortment, empowering them to see themselves reflected in our curation and dedication to uplifting our diverse offering of founders," said Grieco in a statement.

The launch of J.C. Penney Beauty also marks the winding down of the department store's relationship with Sephora, which will come to a close in late 2022, according to a J.C. Penney spokesperson. Sephora is currently in the majority of J.C. Penney stores, but by 2023, J.C. Penney Beauty will have a presence in over 670 stores across the country. 

In December 2020, Sephora announced a partnership with department store Kohl's, which included plans for at least 850 shop-in-shop locations in Kohl's stores. J.C. Penney immediately followed with an announcement that the department store was developing its own beauty concept. 

Before launching J.C. Penney Beauty, the retailer conducted thorough consumer research to understand what beauty shopping experience its customers wanted and incorporated those learnings into its floor plan, product assortment and beauty experts, per the announcement. The company said it aims to provide cosmetics and personal care products for every demographic.