Marks & Spencer has announced a strategic partnership with Sephora that will see changes made to 100 of its stores. The new beauty destination, Sephora at M&S, will launch in selected M&S stores and on M&S.com from spring 2027, and over time will be built to be included in around 100 stores.
Partnership marks next step in M&S transformation
According to M&S, the partnership with the beauty chain is the next step in the transformation of M&S Fashion, Home and Beauty, with the aim of offering customers “more of the beauty brands they love and a stronger specialist experience”.
Blending M&S’s trusted brand, national presence and omnichannel platform with Sephora’s beauty expertise, brand relationships and focus on discovery, the partnership will make a specialist beauty experience accessible to more customers in more places.
Sephora’s UK expansion
Sephora currently has 14 physical store locations in the UK, including its shops in Arndale and the Trafford Centre. The French business said that it is “extending its prestige beauty experience into more communities through the UK’s most trusted brand”.
Through the move, customers will have access to curated brands, expert advice and the beauty discovery experience for which Sephora is known. A carefully curated mix of established beauty favourites, emerging brands and exclusive products across skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare and bodycare will be on offer.
M&S.com will offer a broader online range with home delivery and Click & Collect from M&S stores nationwide. The final brand line-up will be confirmed closer to launch, alongside details of new-to-M&S names and selected Sephora exclusives.
Executives welcome the collaboration
John Lyttle, Managing Director, Fashion, Home & Beauty at M&S, said: “We’re transforming Fashion, Home and Beauty at M&S, creating a better experience for our customers and building a more efficient, more profitable business.
“Our new partnership with Sephora is the next step in this transformation. Beauty is an important category for M&S, with the potential to attract new customers to shop with us and give existing customers the opportunity to shop with us more often.
“Our partnership with Sephora will sit at the heart of our future beauty offer, combining Sephora’s specialist expertise with the strength of the M&S brand, our store estate and our growing digital platform. Alongside this, we will continue investing in our own-label Beauty categories where we have and established strength and customer trust.”
Catherine Spindler, President of Europe & Middle East, Sephora, stated: “Sephora’s ambition has always been to continually evolve how we bring our expertise in beauty to market, adapting our global model to reflect the needs and opportunities of each region.
“In the UK, this has seen us build a deliberately complementary ecosystem across our digital and app proposition, large-format ‘Temples of Beauty’ and, most recently, our curated boutique concepts that debuted in London this summer.
Our UK launch has been such a huge success, that we wanted to go further and faster. Our partnership with M&S is the next evolution of this strategy, introducing a retail model that complements our existing formats and allows us to build on the strength of the Sephora brand in the UK.
“By combining our global expertise in prestige beauty with M&S’s established retail infrastructure, we are creating a more diversified and scalable model for growth, while continuing to evolve the way customers can access the Sephora experience.”
Sarah Boyd, Managing Director, Sephora UK noted: “Since bursting on to the scene in the UK, we have always believed that becoming part of the communities we serve means more than simply opening stores and having a great online experience.
“We have taken a deliberately local approach to every city we enter, from celebrating local culture and creators to tailoring our opening moments and marketing to reflect the people who live there. This personalisation has been a huge part of our success thus far, and now partnering with M&S, a brand so trusted, loved and deeply ingrained in British life is not just a great honour and privilege, but also an extremely exciting next step in our expansion journey.
“Together, we can re-define what high street beauty means for customers across the UK, bringing the very best curated brand and beauty experience to the M&S stores to complement their food, fashion and home expertise.
“We are excited to introduce our incredible Beauty Advisors to the stores to provide a truly personalised experience, and to reach customers in more communities where they already live, shop and spend their time. This partnership marks an important milestone in our continuing drive to become a truly winning formula on the UK High Street.”
