LVMH-owned Sephora clarifies its strategy in Israel

Amidst its international expansion, the LVMH-owned retailer Sephora is increasing its store openings and entering new markets. However, in Israel, where the announcement of its arrival has sparked calls for a boycott, the beauty retailer denies any plans for a direct presence.

As the group's growth accelerated in the second quarter, Sephora was specifically mentioned as a key factor in this improvement.

According to LVMH's 2025 annual results, the selective retailing division, driven largely by Sephora's performance, generated 18.35 billion euros in revenue, accounting for 23 percent of the group's sales.

This momentum continued into 2026. In the first half of the year, the selective retailing division reported organic growth of 5 percent. During the half-year results presentation, Bernard Arnault cited Sephora's “strong growth” as a reason for his group's acceleration in the second quarter.

This growth is primarily based on the geographical expansion of its network: one hundred openings in 2025, entry into Belgium and Croatia in 2026, and continued expansion in the UK.

In this context of international expansion, Israel is a special case

On August 9, Israeli cosmetics retailer Glam42 announced the arrival of Sephora in Israel, stating it would market the Sephora Collection in the country.

The information was immediately interpreted by several local media outlets as Sephora's own entry into the Israeli market.

“The beauty giant will initially open six stores and five shop-in-shops, mainly offering Sephora Collection products, while brands such as Huda Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Rare Beauty and Fenty will remain unavailable during the pilot phase,” wrote Israeli news site Ynet.

From the announcement of Sephora's arrival in Israel to the official denial

On social media, the announcement triggered a wave of anger and widespread calls to boycott Sephora.

On August 10, the Israeli daily Haaretz questioned the narrative of a Sephora launch, revealing that the operation was actually much more limited. It was, in fact, an agreement concerning the Sephora Collection. Haaretz referred to it as a “one-off shipment”.

On August 12, Sephora officially denied opening stores in Israel, stating: “The Sephora Collection brand has signed a temporary resale agreement with the retailer Glam42, which will offer a selection of its products in some of its stores... We would like to clarify, however, that the retailer Sephora has no intention of opening stores in Israel.”

In other words, Glam42 remains the operator of the points-of-sale, and these are neither Sephora boutiques nor the launch of a Sephora network in Israel. The operation concerns the distribution of the private label brand.

Has Israel become a sensitive market for the international image of brands?

In any case, the Sephora situation illustrates not so much a refusal to sell in the country, but rather a particular focus on how its presence is described and publicised.

In July 2025, FashionUnited reported that the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) had called for a boycott of Zara, the flagship brand of the Inditex group. This call, still active at the time of publication, aims to pressure the Spanish group to cease its operations in Israel.