During LVMH’s first-quarter 2025 earnings call, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Cécile Cabanis, noted that Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy is impacting Sephora’s online momentum. LVMH reported a revenue of $23.1 billion for the first three months of the year, marking a 3% decline from the same period in the previous year.
LVMH’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025 highlighted Sephora as a notable weakness for the luxury conglomerate’s U.S. operations, despite positive global performance in fashion. U.S. demand for jewelry, leather, and fashion products remained strong and showed moderate acceleration compared to the latter half of 2024. However, Sephora faced challenging comparisons after achieving double-digit growth the previous year, which contributed to a sequential slowdown in the U.S. market at the group level, as explained by Cabanis during the call.
Sephora experienced a solid first quarter with robust growth in brick-and-mortar sales and product purchases. However, in the United States, Sephora’s e-commerce sector is losing some momentum due to Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategies. Cabanis noted this approach is centered on pricing, which LVMH aims to avoid.
Fortune’s request for comment from LVMH was not immediately answered.
In terms of comparable products, Amazon appears to offer competitive, if not superior, pricing to Sephora. For instance, Sephora offers the 1.52-ounce bottle of Kérastase’s Gloss Absolu hair product for $36, while Amazon lists the same product for $26, representing a roughly 28% discount.
Goldman Sachs analyst Louise Singlehurst inquired about the recent “period of unprecedented headlines,” prompting Cabanis to acknowledge that market uncertainty seems to be affecting demand. She remarked that operational clientele is more susceptible to economic downturns and uncertainties, potentially impacting demand in recent weeks.
Despite an overall 3% decrease in revenue in the first quarter, LVMH expressed pride in its resilience amid challenging times.
