Data-Driven Personalization: Sephora's Winning Strategy

Key Moments:

• Micro-Moments that Matter (3:30): Sephora leverages data to create impactful moments for customers, like sending a timely reminder to a traveler about their moisturizer.
• Modern Data & AI Stack (5:00): Manbir discusses Sephora’s best-of-breed data and AI stack, spanning cloud data platform, BI solution, cataloging, and machine learning democratization.
• The Power of the Semantic Layer (7:30): The semantic layer is crucial for enabling meaningful data discovery and governance. Sephora's investment in ThoughtSpot was driven by the need to enhance their semantic layer and drive intelligence in their BI space.
• Collaborative Data Governance (10:00): Sephora fosters a collaborative approach to data governance, with data stewards playing a key role. They identify individuals who are subject matter experts in their areas andare passionate about data to help drive governance and enrichment.
• Unlearning and Relearning (16:30): The challenge of keeping up with the evolving data landscape requires unlearning old practices and embracing new ones. Manbir highlights the importance of giving individuals the opportunity to look at the changing landscape from a new lens and empowering them to drive transformation.
• The Importance of Continuous Learning (20:30): Manbir acknowledges the challenge of balancing learning with delivering results, but stresses the importance of continuous learning in a rapidly evolving field. She notes that individuals are often willing to go above and beyond if there is a learning opportunity.
• Building High-Performing Teams (22:30): Manbir discusses the nuances of creating a high-performing, nimble team that can adapt to change and drive innovation. He mentions the importance of understanding the nuances that are important in transforming a team into a high-performing one.

Key Quotes: 

The intimate details, we always talk about getting closer to our clients. We want to experience our clients. I feel the intimate details that data gives you, getting your clients so close to you, is a very different lens to look at data from. It is a gift of feedback that the clients give to you or your consumers give to you in terms of data. - Manbir Paul

Democratizing these technologies is key to our tech stack. We have a multi-cloud strategy to capture the best tools. Tools, plus our BI investment, help us. ThoughtSpot was chosen for meaningful data insights, reaching clients where they interact with data and enhancing our BI intelligence. - Manbir Paul

We want to make sure that there are tools that help us enable scaled implementations in driving personalization, and that's where our Databricks platform enables us doing that. - Manbir Paul

Mentions: 

• Farmacy: Honey Halo Ultra-Hydrating Ceramide Moisturizer
• The Geek Way by Andrew McAfee

Bio: 

Manbir Paul

Manbir Paul is VP of Engineering, Data Insights & MarTech at Sephora. Prior to this, he served as global head of ML engineering at Levi Strauss & Co.

As a proactive, results-driven technology leader specializing in the retail industry, Manbir's expertise lies not just in understanding the industry's complexities, but also in harnessing the transformative power of Data and AI. With a passion deeply rooted in technological innovation, his most recent endeavors have involved leading in the realms of Data and AI to develop, scale, and implement solutions that amplify business growth.