Sephora strives to innovate in beauty

SAN FRANCISCO — Nestled within a space in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco is Sephora’s new Innovation Lab, which is fostering a culture of innovation development and grooming Sephora’s next generation of digital leaders.

At the Innovation Lab, the team can ideate, test, dream, experiment and learn. As new ideas surface, the team is responsible for sourcing, developing, evaluating, testing and eventually launching new offerings and technologies for in-store shopping and on-the-go.

Through its “Think Tank” program, the Innovation Lab will groom the next generation of leaders, who will be developing the “next big idea” in retail. The Think Tank team meets monthly and works to solve for the way beauty mavens shop five years from now. The lab also will oversee “Idea Central,” a program that seeks to source and deliver on ideas from employees nationwide — regardless of rank or function within the company.

“The Innovation Lab and dedicated management team gives us an incredible opportunity to drive the future of innovation,” stated Bridget Dolan, VP of Sephora Innovation Lab. “Given our location in the heart of the digital and tech scene, we have strong visibility into the players and trends, both on and offline, that could be molded into Sephora-centric experiences. We have a relentless hunger for developing technologies and networking with emerging technology companies that might seem unexpected now, but could define the future of retail.”