SOUNDBytes was launched to be more than just another podcast. It’s a legitimate collective in every sense of the term, one that brings together some of the leading marketing professionals in the industry to create an environment where people can communicate, collaborate, and innovate with one another.
The actual podcast component itself offers insights from a diverse range of speakers in nearly every industry you can think of. Operated by Jessica Nuremberg and Michelle Edgar, SOUNDBytes has sparked dozens of fascinating discussions on far-reaching topics, as was evidenced when the duo was recently joined by Sephora Global Chief Brand Officer Steve Lesnard.
Mr. Lesnard is no stranger to this business, and, before joining Sephora, he spent two decades at one of the largest athletic brands in the world and was also a driving force at The North Face as Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Product Creation. All told it was a compelling conversation that is worth learning more about.
Steve Lesnard: The Story So Far
But first, it’s important to get a bit of additional insight into Steve Lesnard and his background, all of which provide an invaluable context regarding the discussion.
Lesnard was born in France and initially went to business school. After that, he moved to the United States and began to work for a large athletic brand that catered primarily to men. Over two decades, he held several different roles, including roles in marketing, product development, and general management. He managed various marketing teams in both the U.S. and Europe, and, during this period, he developed a deep interest in the outdoor industry.
It was also during this time that he realized that, while the athletic brand catered primarily to men, there was a large opportunity in the women’s market that was currently being underserved. During market research, he and his teams would repeatedly ask women where they shopped, and the brand he was currently working for was never mentioned. This was a lesson that would stick in the back of his mind that would eventually pay off in the long run.
Throughout his career, Steve Lesnard has always been passionate. not only for the brands but also for the strong values at the heart of them. He puts experience and community at the heart of every decision he makes and enjoys working for companies that do the same. That’s one of the things that he validated in his mind during his time at The North Face, for example. It’s also something that initially motivated him to join Sephora.
Becoming a part of the Sephora family offered him a chance to explore, do something different and learn new things, all while returning to his home country of France. During his discussion on the podcast, he indicated that the transition had been an incredible journey for him, both personally and professionally.
Enter: Sephora
A big part of what took Steve Lesnard to Sephora was his realization that the women’s market was currently underserved, and that out of all the brands that seemed to understand this as well, Sephora was by far making the most progress.
Upon joining the team, the first thing he did was sit down with Sephora’s founder, Mr. Mandonnaud. They had a deep discussion that took things back to the 1970s. Mr. Mandonnaud talked about his original vision for a space where anyone could feel at ease and explore beauty on their terms. He wanted to support and empower his customers, all while challenging the traditional department store model, in which beauty was often kept behind glass counters and customers were served by workers wearing white gloves who controlled every facet of the experience.
In other words, Mr. Mandonnaud was looking to innovate. He was attempting to disrupt. What he wanted to do was positively change the way that people thought about the space in particular. This was something that Steve Lesnard wanted, too, so you could say that things immediately got off on the right foot.
Steve Lesnard also indicated that he was inspired to join Sephora because it is a large, global, multi-brand retailer with a strong presence in many regions across the globe like the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Central America, South America, and Asia. He believes that at its core, Sephora is not just a brand. They also have strong values as to how they serve their customers and present their products. It’s best to think of them as a house of brands; this is something that makes them unique as they balance being both a brand and a multi-branded retailer.
One of the best examples of the potential that Sephora has comes by way of the company’s private label collection. It was created by Mr. Mandonnaud with the vision of making the world of beauty fun and accessible to all consumers. The collection’s magic truly rests in its high-quality products and sustainable standards. Both of these things are easy for Sephora to achieve as they are a part of the LVMH family.
The State of Marketing, Branding, and Beyond
One of the reasons why Steve Lesnard believes that Sephora has been so successful ? and one thing that retail businesses can do to thrive in the modern era ? involves focusing on creating a true experience for every last customer who walks through the door.
Steve Lesnard is quick to admit that retail businesses of all types faced uncertainty during the pandemic. Not only did they have to answer whether retail would come back, but they had to wonder whether customers would do the same. However, by now, it is safe to say that retail has made a strong comeback. Many stores have seen increased foot traffic and a deep desire from consumers to be in-store as much as possible.
All of this is happening not at the expense of online business, mind you, at least not in the case of Sephora. These new behaviors that the pandemic created are here to stay.
Part of how Sephora has been able to take advantage of this involves creating an in-store environment where their customers can explore and experiment with new products. In his own words, “It’s all about the trial.” Sephora goes out of its way to offer a plethora of new products every time someone visits a location, and the pace of the experience is something many consider to be quite exciting.
Additionally, Sephora employs beauty advisors at every location: hardworking individuals who play a critical role in the process. The leadership team at Sephora considers both the customer and the beauty advisors to be their bosses. Because of that, they make sure that all advisors have access to only the best tools and training. This is essential in making sure they spend as much time as possible with their customers, no matter what.
Another one of the more fascinating things about Sephora as a brand has to do with the idea of those very same beauty managers. Steve Lesnard indicated that many of them have continued to grow with the company. He indicated that 87% of current store managers are women, for example. Moreover, some of them have been with the company for over 20 years. They stay not purely for financial compensation, but because they love the type of opportunity that only a brand like Sephora can provide. They believe in the product selection and the value of Sephora, and they want as many other people as possible to do the same.
In the end, Steve Lesnard indicated that when it comes to inspiration for what the “next big thing” might be, he and his colleagues always look to the people who matter most: his customers. He said that he knew in joining Sephora he would get access to consumer behavior on a level that he never had before. He was excited about this prospect because it could help guide a lot of the decisions that they were making.
To that end, he said that he has not been disappointed, because Sephora consumers tend to interact with the business’s larger ecosystem in a far more passionate way than a lot of other businesses can claim. They do so, not only via the Sephora website, but by the popular mobile app, the company’s loyalty program, in stores, and more. Because all these different channels are connected, Steve Lesnard and his teams get access to a massive volume of data about what people are interested in, what they’re browsing, what they’re trying, and most importantly what they’re buying.
All of this insight allows them to constantly check and test new ways to offer services to customers. Data is at the core of everything they do, and they can even offer their brand partners a lot of specific information about the consumer. All of this is in service of the most important objective of all: creating the most compelling experience possible for every last customer who walks through the door.
