Sephora, a global beauty retailer owned by LVMH Group, launched its first cross-border e-commerce offline brand experience store in Shanghai recently.

In this store, Sephora's new cosmetics, which are sold overseas, can leave the bonded warehouse and be displayed in the commercial area of Shanghai for the first time. After seeing and experiencing the products on site, customers can scan the QR code to enter Sephora's Tmall overseas flagship store to place orders.

Such regulatory innovation has activated a closed loop between offline and online procurement.

According to data from Shanghai customs, thanks to the combined efforts in simplifying administration and delegating power, combining decentralization and management and optimizing services, cosmetics imported from Shanghai port overcame adverse factors such as a reduction in shipping and air transport capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic and showed double-digit growth in the first four months of 2020.

According to Chen Yifeng, deputy general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao International Trading Operation Center Co Ltd, the reason for the growth in imported cosmetics is that overseas brands see China as a rare stable growth market in the world during the pandemic.