M&S has struck a strategic partnership with Sephora that will bring the beauty retailer into 100 stores across the UK as the high street stalwart steps up the transformation of its Fashion, Home and Beauty business.
Sephora will begin launching in selected stores and on M&S.com from spring 2027, combining Sephora’s beauty expertise and brand relationships with M&S’s national store estate and omnichannel platform. The shop-in-shop model will take Sephora to 100 high streets and retail parks around the country, significantly expanding the specialist beauty retailer’s physical reach in the UK. Sephora has also been growing its standalone estate, with four new UK openings announced earlier this year as it targeted 20 stores by the end of 2026.
Customers will be able to shop a curated mix of established beauty names, emerging brands and exclusive products across skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare and bodycare. The final brand line-up will be revealed closer to launch and is expected to include names that are new to M&S alongside selected Sephora exclusives. Specialist beauty teams will support customers in stores, while M&S.com will carry a broader online range with home delivery and Click & Collect available through M&S stores nationwide.
John Lyttle, Managing Director, Fashion, Home & Beauty at M&S, said:
“We’re transforming Fashion, Home and Beauty at M&S, creating a better experience for our customers and building a more efficient, more profitable business. Our new partnership with Sephora is the next step in this transformation. Beauty is an important category for M&S, with the potential to attract new customers to shop with us and give existing customers the opportunity to shop with us more often.”
The tie-up also gives Sephora a different route to expansion in the UK. Rather than relying solely on standalone destination stores and boutiques, the retailer can use M&S’s existing footprint to reach more towns and communities.
Catherine Spindler, President of Europe & Middle East at Sephora, said:
“Sephora’s ambition has always been to continually evolve how we bring our expertise in beauty to market, adapting our global model to reflect the needs and opportunities of each region. In the UK, this has seen us build a deliberately complementary ecosystem across our digital and app proposition, large-format ‘Temples of Beauty’ and, most recently, our curated boutique concepts that debuted in London this summer.
“Our UK launch has been such a huge success, that we wanted to go further and faster. Our partnership with M&S is the next evolution of this strategy, introducing a retail model that complements our existing formats and allows us to build on the strength of the Sephora brand in the UK.
“By combining our global expertise in prestige beauty with M&S’s established retail infrastructure, we are creating a more diversified and scalable model for growth, while continuing to evolve the way customers can access the Sephora experience.”
Sarah Boyd, Managing Director of Sephora UK, said:
“Since bursting on to the scene in the UK, we have always believed that becoming part of the communities we serve means more than simply opening stores and having a great online experience. We have taken a deliberately local approach to every city we enter, from celebrating local culture and creators to tailoring our opening moments and marketing to reflect the people who live there.
“This personalisation has been a huge part of our success thus far, and now partnering with M&S, a brand so trusted, loved and deeply ingrained in British life is not just a great honour and privilege, but also an extremely exciting next step in our expansion journey.
“Together, we can re-define what high street beauty means for customers across the UK, bringing the very best curated brand and beauty experience to the M&S stores to complement their food, fashion and home expertise. We are excited to introduce our incredible Beauty Advisors to the stores to provide a truly personalised experience, and to reach customers in more communities where they already live, shop and spend their time. This partnership marks an important milestone in our continuing drive to become a truly winning formula on the UK High Street.”
The move is particularly interesting in the context of M&S’s wider store transformation. Third-party partnerships are becoming a more visible part of that strategy including the news last week of its partnership with The Cotswold Company.
