Dive Brief:

• About a year after its announcement that Sephora would open 850 shop-in-shops at Kohl's stores by 2023, the retailer on Tuesday announced the next 400 locations will open this year.

• The openings span 36 states and will raise the total number of Sephora shop-in-shops at Kohl's stores to 600 by the end of 2022.
• In addition to expanding the footprint of the Sephora concept, the companies are also adding brands to its assortment. Murad, Clarins, Jack Black, Living Proof, Versace and Voluspa will be available through the concept this spring.

Dive Insight:

Kohl's Sephora partnership, announced in December 2020, is expanding on track. The first 200 stores opened last fall with over 100 beauty brands in the assortment, and phase two will include 400 store openings and additional beauty brands.

Kohl's, which announced its Sephora deal among a host of other strategic partnerships in recent years, says the shop-in-shops are working. The introduction of Sephora at Kohl's allowed the retailer to not only expand beauty, but also opened up additional space in its stores to invest in casual and active categories. However, the retailer gave no specific metrics to substantiate the concept's success.

"As a partnership designed to drive joint success, overhaul Kohl's beauty business, excite existing customers and bring new customers into Kohl's, early indications show that Sephora at Kohl's is succeeding on these fronts," Kohl's said in a press release on the expansion. "As previously disclosed, Sephora at Kohl's is off to a great start and has been driving sales, bringing in new, younger and more diverse customers, and enabling cross-category purchases across all lines of business."

The concept's expansion across the U.S. is meant to make beauty more accessible to shoppers, and the next 400 stores open up Sephora at Kohl's to eight new states in addition to increasing its presence in states where locations already exist. California is getting the most new stores, with 46 additional shop-in-shops planned, followed by Ohio (30), Texas (26) and Illinois (26).

When it comes to assortment, the addition of six more prestige beauty brands is part of the companies' goal to offer products at a variety of price points, joining a current assortment that includes Charlotte Tilbury, Kiehl's and Clinique.

"Since our partnership with Kohl's began, we've always had the intention to keep the Sephora at Kohl's beauty assortment as relevant and similar to our freestanding Sephora stores as possible," Artemis Patrick, executive vice president and global chief merchandising officer at Sephora, said in a statement. "We want every customer who comes to Sephora at Kohl's to be able to discover new brands and find their favorites, just like they do at our other Sephora stores."