Sephora and Google have come together in a first-of-its kind partnership to help beauty lovers go handsfree.
Yesterday morning, the beauty retailer and tech giant unveiled a vanity installation of Google’s recently launched Home Hub at Sephora’s Union Square location. Customers now have the option to interact with and purchase the Home Hub from ten Sephora locations across the U.S and stream more than 2,500 videos on Sephora’s YouTube channel.
“It is the first time we’ve sold a tech product like this,” said Sephora senior director of innovation and omni experiences, Kristy Frivold. “We are leading this space for custom content on YouTube for beauty as a retailer. To partner with Google, it was a perfect marriage.”
Google Home Hub, which is a handsfree, voice-activated assistance centre for smartphones, has proven convenient for helping with everyday household tasks, such as cooking, voice assistance and controlling other devices. Additionally, it has been great for beauty lovers wanting to perform activities such as watching tutorials without getting makeup all over their phones or having to use their fingers to pause videos.
Sephora, which boasts more than one million YouTube subscribers, has also been upping its video content as more people search for beauty tutorials. In fact, Google’s head of partner marketing for home products, Julie Chen Davidson, said there were 81 million beauty-related YouTube searches in 2017 – roughly 220,000 searches per day.
“At Google Home, we are always trying to make our users’ lives easier,” Chen said. “We recognise that people lead chaotic, busy lives, particularly those who have kids, and we think the idea of a handsfree interaction model is the way that technology is going.”
