Some consumers rely on websites to reach their favorite retailers. Others like to head to the stores themselves to check out the options. Still others want a mobile app that enables them to shop quickly and on the go. And increasingly, today’s customers demand that retailers offer them all of these options, consistently and constantly, so that they can pick and choose the channel they want to use at any specific time.

This demand is the impetus for the latest developments in the marketing strategy of Sephora, the specialized beauty product retailer. Although it has long maintained a good reputation for its interactive website, the company remains in constant pursuit of a strategy that enables it to reach all its customers through the most channels at the most frequent times. It integrates these efforts with its constantly evolving loyalty program, in an effort to become nearly irresistible to beauty product consumers.

Users of the most recent version of its mobile app, Sephora to Go, can engage in any activities they would pursue in stores. The close alignment across these channels provides a seamless experience. In addition, the app encourages customers to sign up for the loyalty program and create a Beauty Insider account. Once they have done so, they gain a mobile version of their loyalty card. They can check their loyalty points at any time, as well as redeem them however they wish. Downloadable bar codes also are available, which can be scanned in stores.

Simultaneously, Sephora’s in-store signage encourages shoppers to sign up for the loyalty program and create a Beauty Insider account. That is, both channels issue similar calls to action. Moreover, the in-store signs encourage brick-and-mortar shoppers to take advantage of the benefits they can gain from interacting with the retailer, either online or through mobile apps.

As the company recognizes, “The majority of Sephora’s clients are cross-channel shoppers,” so it wants consumers to go ahead and use their phones while in the stores. In return, Sephora has enjoyed a 150 percent increase in the amount of mobile shopping its customers undertake.

Source: Lauren Johnson, “Sephora Magnifies Mobile Ambitions Via In-Store Signage, Updated App,” Mobile Commerce Daily, August 23, 2013