How to Build an Online Beauty Ecommerce Store Application Like Sephora?

Beauty retail innovation is seeing high-level transformation with the introduction of artificial intelligence, data analytics, gamification, social commerce, hyper-personalization, and other new strategies and technologies. More and more beauty retailers are investing in building their own application that can offer convenience to the customers to shop from anywhere, immediacy, and personalization. On-demand beauty retail applications can open new avenues for growth, customer satisfaction, brand building, and business sustainability. It can be a game changer.

Developing an online retail application is much easier with app development platforms that require comparatively less time, effort, and resources for building a mobile app from scratch. These codeless development platforms do not need any major expertise and can be efficiently leveraged by business managers and owners with minimal coding backgrounds. Creating an on-demand beauty retail application is cost-effective with no-code app development software. These tools  offer a variety of features and capabilities that retail businesses can utilize to design compelling and sales-driven online retail stores. 

The global beauty and personal care products market is likely to touch USD 751.60 billion in 2032, which indicates the tremendous scope in this market. Quick, hassle-free, and easy accessibility of these cosmetic products through applications has been a driving force for the growth of this industry as it facilitates consumers to buy their favorite beauty products from anywhere and at any time right from their mobile phones. Moreover, worldwide demand for reliable, damage-control, and hyper-personalized products is high. Online beauty retailers are learning to innovate more by investing in the best beauty ecommerce app building tools to target the market.

Introduction to online retail applications

In the modern 21st century, a large section of customers prefer shopping from home, a demand which traditional businesses find it difficult to meet. Most of the internet users prefer to shop online through apps, rather than going outside. In the US alone, there are roughly 160.6 million retail app users. Not only this, but around 65% of EU shoppers use fashion-related retail shopping apps. The main reasons behind such a large user base in the US and Europe are the features, shopping experience, and capabilities offered by the retail apps.  

Online retail applications is a platform that customers can use to purchase their desired products from a business. In this eCommerce business model, products are directly sold to customers through mobile apps. In an era dominated by cell phones, more and more people are opting for shopping via online retail apps as compared to other channels. As a result, the global online retail market size is anticipated to reach $8.48 trillion in the upcoming years with a CAGR of 6.23%. 

Online retail applications come equipped with features like online storefronts, payment gateways, shipping and logistics, customer support, order management, inventory management, etc., to ensure users can seamlessly find and order their products from the app without any inconvenience. 

Additionally, transformation stories of online retail platforms like Sephora, from a simple eCommerce store to one of the largest beauty and cosmetics retailers, have inspired people to tap into immense growth opportunities in the online retail applications market. Sephora is ranked as the top online stores in the beauty segment in the United States in 2023, by e-commerce net sales. Glossier, Cult Beauty, ULTA Beauty, Lush are the other leading online cosmetic stores in the world. 

What is Sephora’s Business Model?

“At Sephora, we believe beauty is for each person to define and ours to celebrate. Together, we support and encourage bold choices in beauty — and in life. Our purpose is to inspire fearlessness”.

As a leading D2C eCommerce brand, Sephora is a French multinational retailer of beauty products founded in 1969, and currently having a tie up with nearly 340 brands. 

Source: Businessanalysts.com

Sephora functions through several revenue models. Its omni-channel presence via in-store sales, ecommerce beauty application, loyalty programs, beauty services, community engagement, influencer marketing, social commerce, etc., is aimed at delivering exceptional customer experiences. Sephora’s AI-based mobile application is its central hub of sales. The app has several advanced features, including ColorIQ, Smell-O-Vision, Visual Artist, facial recognition, etc. 

Sephora relies on its highly innovative tech-driven business model to combine technology with its online and offline stores to generate maximum sales and consistently grow in the highly competitive beauty and cosmetics industry. Apart from this, Sephora also uses subscription models, 3rd party marketplaces, private labeled products, etc., to ensure a consistent stream of sales and revenue. Sephora leverages multiple digital platforms, AI, AR/VR, self-service, etc., to make more sales, deliver superior customer experience, and uplift business revenue, while keeping the carbon emissions at minimal. 

Evolution of Sephora, a Leading Cosmetic Online Retail Store:

Sephora reportedly generated a revenue of 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. From a small fragrance store in Paris to a global retail giant with 2,700+ stores in 30 countries, the evolution of Sephora is not ordinary; rather a fairy tale story, filled with innovative strategies, quality-based products, and customer oriented services. 

At first, Sephora was started as a small perfumery named “Shop 8” in 1969 in France. The company allowed customers to test the products before purchasing in hope of providing the best buying experience to customers. The idea of focusing on buying experiences was uncommon in that era and hence, the business rapidly gained success. Within a few years of launch, Shop 8 was able to open 12 more stores from just a single store. In 1993, the 12 Shop 8 stores merged with a UK's Boots PLC chain, forming the present Sephora brand. 

Seeing the continued and rapid growth of Sephora, Louis Vuitton SE acquired it in 1998. Louis Vuitton SE made significant investments in Sephora to expand its product ranges and chain stores globally. Over the next few years, Sephora continued curating and adding products from successful and trending brands from the beauty, cosmetics, bath, and body products industry. Soon, the company realized the potential of omnichannel selling, hence, started its web-based store to reach and target more customers.

Over time, Sephora also cracked the code to increase traffic and sales, i.e., customer engagement and retention. So, the company started focusing on best-in-class omnichannel experience, customer loyalty programs, celebrity partnerships, brand partnerships, etc., to attract new and retain existing customers. Some of the examples include the beauty insider program, annual beauty events, in-store merchandising program, Sephora virtual artist, Sephora credit card, etc.

Also, it became the first platform that introduced exclusive products ranging from celebrity brands like Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez and FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna. This innovative strategy highly contributed to the increased traffic and sales of Sephora.

As a result of its continuous innovation, long-term vision, strategies, and efforts, Sephora was able to attract a massive size of customers that helped the company reach 1000's of orders per day from a few per week, helping it become a market giant in the global retail beauty and cosmetics industry.

Top Features of a Beauty Online Store App Like Sephora

Features play a crucial role in the success of a beauty online store app like Sephora. From registering on the portal to leaving feedback and reviews, beauty eCommerce store-related features can smoothen the overall buying experience for the customers while also improving the business growth. Mainly, these features are divided into two segments, i.e., store-side features and customer-side features, as discussed below;

Store-side features in an eCommerce beauty store app are those that directly benefit the business functionality, performance and productivity of the online store. Leading store-side features in an eCommerce store app like Sephora are as follows;

Inventory and Stock Management

In this competitive era, beauty store apps like Sephora have no choice but  to rethink their inventory control for which optimum inventory and stock management features are vital. Beauty store apps deal with a wide range of products from different brands. Hence, powerful and intelligent inventory and stock management features are required to prevent overstocking and stock outs, automate stock management, send timely alerts, and seamlessly fulfill the orders. Both sellers and businesses benefit from inventory management features.

Customer Account Management

Through customer account management features, eCommerce stores can effectively analyze, save, and manage customer accounts information. It typically includes past and present information related to order history, detailed customer information, delivery addresses, payment credentials, recently viewed products, returns, support queries, profile modifications, etc. Businesses can use this data to identify growth opportunities, provide hassle-free experience to customers, and improve store performance.

Marketing

Marketing features help an eCommerce store seamlessly manage brand promotion, social media marketing, social commerce through the app admin dashboard itself. Additionally, integrated marketing features also benefit eCommerce businesses in leveraging the customer data to run targeted ads, email campaigns, and personalized offers in an effective manner. 

AI Integration

AI is among the most trending technologies owing to the performance boost it gives to the capabilities of the mobile apps. AI in beauty store apps like Sephora can help retailers provide personalized recommendations to customers, deploy chatbots, integrate virtual try on, serve customized skincare routine, improve inventory management, analyze large data sets, optimize the search and filters, create beauty tutorials content, reviews analysis, build virtual community, etc., ultimately boosting the customer experience.

The benefits of AI integration are many, owing to which the global AI market size is expected to grow with a whopping CAGR of 26.10% in the upcoming years.

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate marketing program features help retail businesses lower their marketing costs, risks, while attracting more customers. This feature allows  businesses to partner with popular brands, influencers, and celebrities, and advertising platforms for product promotion purposes, all in real-time. Affiliates or promoters get some commission whenever someone purchases the product from their links. 

Product Listing

With proper product listing features, businesses can easily list their products on the app with comprehensive background information on the prices, uses, benefits, etc. Well organized and detailed product listing directly influences the customer thinking and search engine indexing, hence, is beneficial for improving sales. 

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a must to stay competitive and maximize profits in the online eCommerce store app market. Through it, online beauty stores can adjust product pricing as per the market demand. With a powerful analytic feature, the dynamic pricing feature can be automated. 

Omnichannel Integration

Omnichannel integration is very important for online beauty stores. They can seamlessly connect and sell on multiple sales channels with improved communication, data collection, sales and revenue. It is highly beneficial in delivering an unified purchasing experience to customers when purchasing from multiple platforms of the same brand.

Real-time App Analytics

Real-time app analytics is a critical element in a beauty store app as it can help the store to work with DDDM. These help businesses easily and quickly track customer journeys, product searches, browsing patterns, and various other insights that can be leveraged to improve the app store functionalities and business performance.

Shipping Carrier Integration 

These features are beneficial in connecting the app store with its shipping partners. Shipping carrier integration is best for eCommerce stores having a multi-carrier delivery strategy. It can automatically generate shipping labels, set up alerts, track status, etc., ensuring low costs and a streamlined shipping process. 

Order Management

Besides taking an order, fulfilling it efficiently is also crucial for which order management features are must. These features help online eCommerce beauty store apps automate the order lifecycle, maintain proper inventory levels, enhance operational efficiency, and ensure faster order fulfillment.

Tax, Commission and Fee Management

With tax, commission and fee management features, businesses can easily comply with the income tax and other legal regulations, manage commissions, and charge service fees accordingly. In addition, It can also quickly calculate the tax rate, interests, fines, etc., for both sellers and buyers, ensuring quick response times. Integrated tax management features help display accurate pricing and tax related data during checkout, eliminating any finance related confusion and error.

Reviews and Ratings Management

Customer trust and loyalty is critical to the sale and success of a product for which reviews and ratings management features are needed in mobile apps. Feedbacks, reviews, and ratings often influence the customer decisions and hence should be properly managed and responded to for showcasing the level of customer service offered by the online store.

24*7 Support

24*7 constant customer support through multiple channels has become a vital part of app-based retail businesses. Approx. 82% customers desire instant customer service at any time. Customers can order at any time and may encounter any issue in their error. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the app provider to provide constant support via calls, messages, live chat, etc., for resolving customer problems promptly. 

Customer-side features

Customer-side features in an eCommerce store like Sephora are those that help elevate customer experience. Some of these features are as follows;

Shopping via Social Media

The online beauty store app should also support social media integration with relevant platforms where the company’s products are available. Through this, customers can seamlessly purchase from multiple channels without any worries.

Product Description and Gallery

With proper product descriptions and a gallery in online beauty stores, customers can easily find and view the relevant information of the product. From size dimensions and color to benefits and uses, product description helps customers understand the critical specifications of the product. In addition, a product gallery helps them view the product from different angles and in different colors. 

Subscription or Memberships

Through memberships and subscriptions features, customers can avail the benefits of premium services in real-time including discounts, free delivery, early access to newly launched products, etc. It highly elevates the customer experience, loyalty and satisfaction as users can get additional benefits at a nominal fee right from their mobile phone, anytime, and from anywhere.

Hassle-Free User Sign-in/Signup

Proper and user-friendly sign in/signup features help users quickly create and login to their account. Beauty store apps like Sephora should offer account creation and login via mobile number, email id, social media accounts, etc., ensuring convenience and personalized experiences for users. Businesses can also add strong authentication and authorization measures to ensure robust customer data security.

Flexible and Secure Payment Options

Secure payment options are a must to build customer trust, ensure convenience and prevent cart abandonment. A beauty store app should offer flexible payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, UPI, wallets, COD, etc., to eliminate any inconvenience to customers during checkout. Implementation of a secure payment gateway with seamless multi-step checkout and flexible options can do the needful.

Advanced Search and Filters

Advanced search and filters help users quickly find, sort, and bifurcate the products or information they need. These features help app users search for their preferred products using filters such as reviews, price deals, top-rated, newly arrived, brand, skin type, gender, ingredients, benefits, etc. Proper search and filter features help reduce browsing fatigue among users which automatically help ensure a positive experience. Nowadays, AI has been immensely used to enhance search and filter functions in mobile apps.

Order Tracking and History

Proper order management and tracking features can significantly reduce repetitive requests from customers regarding the orders and bring better transparency in the overall process. This feature provides users with an easy to understand dashboard for real-time order tracking and viewing relevant information about past purchases. 

Loyalty Programs and Rewards

Automated reward points in return for purchases, referrals, reviews, product sharing, etc., that can be redeemed for cash or shopping can be created through this feature. This is beneficial in motivating customers to repetitively shop from the app, thus, improving customer loyalty.

Personalized Product Recommendations

Personalized product recommendations are required in eCommerce beauty store apps to serve customers with the products they desire or need. Order history, wish lists, customer preferences, search history, etc., are analyzed for personalizing the product recommendations. Unnecessary time and effort wastage can be significantly reduced through this feature, ensuring better customer experience.

Store Offers

Store offers like coupon codes, discounts, seasonal offers, giveaways, flash sales, gift cards, promotions, etc., that are aimed at increasing online sales and revenue can be automated via specific app features. In fact, more than 60% American shoppers actively seek and use store offers for online purchases. It is one of the best ways to attract potential customers towards the online beauty store. Beauty app store owners can also partner with brands to offer brand and platform-specific discounts and coupon codes for better results.

Voice Assistant

Through this feature, users can search for their desired product on the app without physically typing the word. They can simply use their voice to search for their desired products, enabling enhanced convenience. AI-based systems are mostly used to deploy an intelligent voice assistant to a beauty store app like Sephora.

Returns and Exchanges

The reverse logistics handling features are required in modern shopping apps like Sephora to simplify the return and exchange functions. The quality of the reverse logistics process directly influences customer satisfaction and retention. A user-friendly return portal, clear return and exchange policies, status alerts, etc., are critical to ensure users can easily place requests for product returns and exchanges in case they are not satisfied with the product.

Delivery and Pickup Options

Hassle-free, and quick delivery and pickup functionalities are also among the most crucial components of an online beauty eCommerce store application. Through these, customers can easily schedule the product delivery time slots as per their availability, and order pickup slots in case of product return or exchange. Options like same-day delivery and custom delivery are widely used by customers during online shopping.

Self-service

Self service features enable customers to resolve their issues quickly on their own. Self-service features leverage data from  knowledge bases, FAQs, user documentation, etc., to answer general customers queries. This feature is widely used by companies to reduce query resolution time.

Push Notifications and Alerts

Push notifications send timely alerts to users to convey the latest developments. Users can select the alerts regarding product availability, order shipping, package delivery, return requests, etc., so that they can stay aware of the current status of their orders. 

(Source: Sephora.com)

Whether it is an order in transit or it has been canceled or a new product has arrived, push notifications let users automatically know in real time. Real time push notifications greatly drive user engagement, meaning more sales and profit.

Wish lists

In wishlists, users can save their desired products for shopping later, enhancing their experience. Wishlists are generally known to improve cart abandonment rates for eCommerce businesses as customers can later on purchase the products for which they have shown intent but didn’t purchase. Customers can add the products to wishlists and can purchase them later as per the need or intent.

How to Launch a Beauty Store App Like Sephora?

Launching a beauty store app like Sephora requires businesses to consider and research several factors which are directly or indirectly connected to the app development process. Careful consideration should be prioritized in order to ensure that the development does not diverge from the actual trajectories. 

• App Development Platform to choose
• Integration of data analytics feature
• Inventory management
• Warehouse management
• Order delivery and return management
• Customer support management
• Integration of leading technologies like AI, Blockchain, AR/VR etc.
• Digital Marketing budget
• Brand partner management 
• Social commerce 

The most important consideration is to select a flexible and reliable app development platform that can help businesses easily develop a performance-driven and highly customized app. The developed app should have relevant capabilities for inventory management, warehouse management, order delivery, return management, and customer support to ensure smooth order fulfillment and management process. Additionally, integration with emerging technologies, data analytics, reporting, social media, etc., is also beneficial in making data-driven decisions and making the app functioning more seamlessly. Besides design, development and maintenance, businesses should also critically focus on digital marketing budget and brand partner management to get the desired reach and recognition.

How much will it cost to build an online beauty store app like Sephora?

Businesses typically rely on coding-based app development and no-code-based app development software to build an online beauty store app like Sephora. The cost to build an online beauty store app through both of these approaches significantly varies from one another. For instance, in no-code development, developers can quickly build an app, meaning fewer working hours and less pay. Whereas coding-based app development takes months from the development to deployment, resulting in more hours and thus more wages. But, if the business operation is huge and at a larger scale, then a customized development approach with several integrations are required for which the budget has to be more. Moreover, the app needs to be scalable and secure. Assessing and evaluating based on the need to opt for a coding-based approach or no-code app development approach is critical.

Coding-based App Development

The cost to build an eCommerce app like Sephora through coding lies in the range of $30,000 to $100,000 or above, depending upon several factors such as customization, complexity, number of products, development platforms, technological integrations, etc. In addition, hourly charge of developers, hosting charges, payment gateway provider charges, post-development maintenance, security integrations, etc., also highly influences the app development cost. 

App Development Software

The cost to build a mobile app like Sephora through application development software lies in the range of $10,000 to $25,000, depending upon the complexity, app development software fees, and supported APIs. Additionally, factors like templates, plugins, extensions, customization, etc., also influence the app development cost.

Steps to Quickly Build a Beauty Store App Like Sephora

Prepare an outline of essential features, specifications, technologies, etc.

The first step in building a successful mobile app is to have a clearly defined outline document highlighting potential features, specifications, technologies, etc. By specifying the features, technologies, and specifications, businesses can ensure that all the relevant and required information has been strictly followed by the developers during the app development process.  Key features and specifications of a beauty store app like Sephora include inventory management, push notifications, flexible payments, real-time order tracking, returns and exchange, user profile, product catalog, multi-language support, etc. 

Apart from features, businesses can leverage technologies such as automation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, AR/VR, etc., to improve the functionalities, capabilities, and performance of beauty store-type mobile apps. However, businesses need to keep in mind that they should only choose the right technologies and features relevant to their app types. This reduces the IT risks involved while also not overburdening the app with unnecessary features.

Identify app scope and requirements

After the outline preparation, businesses need to focus on the app's scope and requirements. In this, extensive market research and data analysis should be done to gather information about the targeted audience and market, current market trends, development time frame, and problems resolved by the app. In this step, the app development budget, development time frame, product categories to be offered, regional/local requirements, cross-platform capabilities, etc., are also determined to ensure the timely development of the online beauty store apps. 

Businesses should stay precautious of the potential challenges such as misunderstanding user needs, unclear app requirements, irrelevant categories, etc., and must take timely action to prevent them from hindering the user experience and development timeframe.

Decide revenue and business models

For any online retail business, it is very vital to carefully select the right revenue and business models to ensure maximum profitability and long-term sustainability. Businesses can rely on one or more models as per their needs. Online beauty store apps can make use of models like commission-based, parallel category sales, direct product sales, premium memberships, affiliate marketing, etc., to ensure a continuous revenue stream. Choosing the right model should be based on data-driven market research.

For instance, Sephora is using several models such as sales commissions, paid partnerships, affiliate marketing, etc., to make maximum sales with their efforts.

Select a reliable multi-platform app development software

Selecting a reliable multi-platform app development software is paramount to ensure overall success of the online retail application development. The quality level of multi-platform app development software is directly proportional to the overall performance and efficiency. So, select a platform that can help your business deploy the app and sell on multiple platforms with ease. ​Businesses should comprehensively focus on its different aspects including ease of use, customer support, features, omnichannel integrations, security, customizations, scalability, pricing, cross-platform compatibility, etc. GoodFirms offers a well-researched list of reliable multi-platform app development software that have high reviews and ratings. 

Decide on the drag & drop UI

A simple and easy-to-understand drag and drop UI in the multi-platform app development software greatly reduces the app development efforts. The drag and drop interface should be easy to use, must be customizable, and should have intuitive design and elements. Developers with minimal platform experience should also be able to use it without any issues. Tools that come with Gen AI integration may even work on prompts without any need of drag and drop elements.

Finalize Integrations

Integrations are vital for eCommerce store applications like Sephora in automating order tracking, better managing inventory, making informed decisions, and centralizing the data. Online eCommerce beauty stores generally need integration with payment gateways, inventory management, shipping and logistics, analytics, ERP, CRM, accounting, and product information management systems. Check whether the selected app development platform supports these integrations or not. 

Design and develop the app interface and design

A highly responsive and well-designed theme or interface is pivotal to the success of a beauty store app like Sephora. When designing the app interface or selecting a theme template, businesses should critically focus on user-centric navigation, clean layout, color schemes, consistent branding, high-quality images, and various other aspects. Intuitively designed and responsive search, cart, wishlist, and menu buttons, product pages, and checkout page with easy to understand graphics, icons, and smooth backend database connectivity also contributes to the success. 

Besides graphics and images, the application should have well-written SEO-friendly content that concisely highlights the product specifications, benefits, descriptions, etc., to drive more audiences, traffic, and sales. All the required customizations associated with frontend and backend must be in place.

Test the functionalities, payments, and security.

Thorough testing of functionalities, payments, and security in a retail mobile application helps ensure that all things are in place.  In this step, developers identify and eliminate the loopholes, bugs, compatibility issues, and misconfiguration errors that can compromise the data security and integrity.  A wide range of testing procedures and methods are used to test each and every component, link, connectivity patch, etc., for optimal reliability and performance across different systems and platforms. Automated testing and A/B testing tools are widely used by business professionals to easily test their applications for security flaws and risks. 

Deploy on relevant platforms

Once the online retail application is tested properly, it is ready to be deployed on the preferred platforms such as Apple App Store, Google Play Store, official business website, etc. Once the application is deployed, businesses should critically focus on App store optimization (ASO), app marketing, post-development maintenance, etc. Timely feedback and opinions can also be gathered through the audience, besides implementing continuous DevOps testing, to regularly improve the app's features and performance.

Factors that Elevate Consumer Experience

“Customer experience isn’t an expense. Managing customer experience bolsters your brand.” Stan Phelps, Author and Speaker

At present, enhanced consumer experience is the key to ensuring the success of mobile apps, especially for the beauty store segment. A superior customer experience means quick customer retention, satisfaction, and loyalty. Without an optimal customer experience, the chances of customers visiting the mobile application are very low, thus, meaning low sales, revenue, and growth rate. There are many factors that can elevate the consumer experience if implemented properly to build better customer loyalty and drive more growth. Some of these are as follows;

• Artificial Intelligence 
• Multi-lingual support
• Quick response time
• Ease of Navigation
• Intuitive Design
• Personalized interactions
• Hassle-free return management
• Feedbacks and reviews
• Product Quality
• Flexible payment options
• Self-service

All of the above-mentioned factors are noteworthy and should be critically focused on in order to ensure a seamless pre and post-sales experience. Focusing on AI integration, personalized interactions, multi-lingual support, response time, intuitive design, flexible payment options, and self-service, online retail store applications can eliminate the many prominent challenges for customers associated with checkout, customer service, navigation, product search, etc., ensuring they can find everything they look for without much hassle and struggle. In addition, they can also timely resolve the customer queries. Moreover,  proper return management, feedback and product quality are also critical to prevent customer queries and problems that are needed for optimal experience.

Factors That Strengthens An Online Retail Brand

Besides the factor that elevates the customer experience, there are several other factors too, which are responsible for strengthening an online retail brand. Businesses should identify such success factors that positively influence their sustainability and growth. Some of these factors are as follows;

• Customer loyalty and trust
• Technological integrations
• High conversion rates
• Product varieties
• Data-driven decision-making (DDDM)
• Competitive pricing
• Omnichannel presence
• Online store functionalities
• Personalized buying experience
• Excellent customer service
• Continuous innovation and improvement

For safeguarding success and consistent growth, an online retail brand should have robust technological integrations, product varieties, online store functionalities, competitive pricing, and an omnichannel presence in place. Not just implementation, rather their proper utilization is also required, which further contributes to increased customer loyalty, high conversion rates, data-driven decision-making, and personalized experiences. Not only during shopping and checkout, but online retail stores should also focus on delivering excellent post-sales customer service and continuous improvements to constantly meet customer demands.

Future of Online Store Applications

The future of online retail store applications seems promising, owing to the constant increase in customer demand, ease of buying online, convenience, need for a seamless shopping experience, and number of businesses with innovative products. Interestingly, the global eCommerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.9% in the upcoming years. Businesses who fail to embrace the change will squander with limited opportunity. With the constant increase in  the number of mobile phone users the market of online store applications could reach new heights. Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Augmented/virtual Reality, Blockchain, Internet of Things, etc., are the strongest contributors for growth of online store applications. Digital trailblazers will have the market. From enhanced shopping experiences and supply chain transparency, to responsive visual search and mobile first design, to process and performance improvements, the integration of these technologies in the online store applications will further help eliminate critical operational challenges and help businesses attract a huge number of relevant customers.

Conclusion

“Passion and desire can take you anywhere” - Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the group that owns Sephora.

As technology improves, businesses need to be adaptable and open to change. Building an online beauty store application like Sephora is a smart choice for cosmetic products retailers. Through online mobile applications, not only can they support their business growth, but can also improve their sales, revenue, traffic, and long-term business sustainability. Additionally, building such a mobile app has also become easy, all thanks to the app development tools. These systems offer extensive capabilities, features, and benefits that developers can leverage to efficiently build an online retail store application in comparatively less time and budget. Free and open source app development solutions are also available in the market that can design robust applications in minimal time frame and costs.