The boss of Sephora owner LVMH’s selective retailing division has said its recently opened London store is performing more than 300% better than was predicted.

Speaking at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona, Christopher de Lapuente said the Sephora store in Westfield London is performing “300% better than we expected within the first eight weeks” in terms of sales.

“We’re off to a fabulous start,” he continued. “The opening day we had 5,000 people queuing outside the store. I was there, and some people started queueing at midnight. And there were no Sales.

“It was 5,000 people wanting to enjoy the Sephora experience and it’s the power of the brand. They didn’t come to buy lipstick at half price. They came to discover Sephohra, the products, the assortment, which is part of the magic.”

When asked why he thought the launch had done so well, Lapuente said: “I think people love the brand. We’ve worked hard at building the Sephora brand, building a community.

“People in London, they travel around the world. They’ve discovered Sephora at some stage in the US or France. So that’s what you see, people want to discover and come and see the brand and the new products and services.”

LVMH posted what it called an “excellent start” to its financial year, earlier this month. The luxury retail group reported revenues of €21bn (£18.5bn) in its first quarter, 17% higher than the same period in 2022.

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