Beauty retail in France: which stores and brands ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode recommend

We asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode 12 questions French shoppers ask about beauty: a perfume gift around 70 euros, cheap makeup to start a kit, a men's woody fragrance for the office, a relaxing facial in a beauty salon. The answers name 60 retailers and brands. Sephora is the store named most, ahead of Nocibé and Marionnaud, and on cheap makeup the answers send shoppers to the supermarket.

• 27 · 75%Name a retailer or booking site
• 9 · 25%Name beauty and fragrance brands only
• 0 · 0%Name none of the retailers and brands

Sephora first, Nocibé and Marionnaud behind

Sephora is named in 17 of the 36 answers, Nocibé in 11 and Marionnaud in 9. Asked which perfumery chain gives the best advice on an anti-ageing cream, the three models name the same three chains, and two of them put Sephora first. On gift sets, Sephora and Nocibé are each named in 4 answers of 6, Marionnaud in 3.

The supermarkets come next: Auchan in 6 answers, Carrefour, E.Leclerc and Monoprix in 5 each, all on the makeup questions. Online beauty stores are rare: Notino is named in 3 answers, Lookfantastic in 2, Flaconi once.

1. Sephora17 · 47%
2. Nocibé11 · 31%
3. Marionnaud9 · 25%
4. Auchan6 · 17%
5. Carrefour5 · 14%
6. E.Leclerc5 · 14%
7. Monoprix5 · 14%
8. Planity4 · 11%
9. Treatwell3 · 8%
10. Notino3 · 8%
11. Beauty Success2 · 6%
12. Lookfantastic2 · 6%

Also named, in fewer than 2 answers each: 7 other retailers and booking sites.

Name a retailer or booking siteName beauty and fragrance brands onlyName none of the retailers and brands

1. ChatGPT75
2. Gemini93
3. Google AI Mode111

On perfume, the answers name houses, not stores

On the two perfume questions, Chanel and Dior are each named in 5 answers of 6, followed by Hermès, Prada, Montblanc and Chloé. A store is named once in those six answers: Sephora, by Google AI Mode. The answers recommend a fragrance and leave the shopper to find where to buy it.

Makeup works the other way. Essence and Catrice are named in 7 of the 9 makeup answers, NYX Professional Makeup in 6, and the answers say where to find them: in hypermarkets and at Monoprix, or at Sephora.

1. Dior8 · 22%
2. Chanel7 · 19%
3. Essence7 · 19%
4. Catrice7 · 19%
5. Rituals6 · 17%
6. Chloé6 · 17%
7. Yves Rocher6 · 17%
8. NYX6 · 17%
9. Hermès5 · 14%
10. Sol de Janeiro5 · 14%
11. Maybelline5 · 14%
12. L'Oréal Paris5 · 14%
13. Clarins4 · 11%
14. Nuxe4 · 11%
15. Kiko Milano3 · 8%
16. Biotherm3 · 8%
17. Makeup Revolution3 · 8%
18. Prada3 · 8%
19. Lancôme3 · 8%
20. Montblanc3 · 8%

Also named, in fewer than 3 answers each: 21 other beauty and fragrance brands.

ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode, October 26, 2026. One answer can name several beauty and fragrance brands.

Beauty salons go to booking sites

On the two beauty salon questions, a relaxing facial and a quick waxing appointment, Planity is named in 4 answers of 6 and Treatwell in 3. Nocibé and Marionnaud, which both run beauty salons in their stores, are named in none of the six. The other names are skincare brands used in salons: Guinot, Mary Cohr, Esthederm, Biologique Recherche.

Skincare and body care is the most open theme, with 24 names in 9 answers: Sephora, Marionnaud and Nocibé, then Rituals, Yves Rocher, Sol de Janeiro, Clarins and Biotherm.

Retailer or booking siteBeauty or fragrance brand

A bigger bubble is more answers on the theme. Small bubbles without a name are named in one answer: hover them to read it.

Gemini names the most

Gemini names 7.1 retailers or brands per answer, against 5.8 for Google AI Mode and 4.2 for ChatGPT. ChatGPT names Sephora in only 3 of its 12 answers, Google AI Mode in 8. Twenty-six names are named by all three models, among them the three perfumery chains, Auchan, Carrefour and E.Leclerc, and the two leading perfume houses.

Named in 3 answers or more	ChatGPT	Gemini	Google AI Mode
Sephora	3	6	8
Nocibé	3	5	3
Marionnaud	1	4	4
Dior	3	3	2
Chanel	3	2	2
Essence	2	3	2
Catrice	2	3	2
Rituals	2	2	2
Chloé	2	2	2
Yves Rocher	2	3	1
NYX	2	2	2
Auchan	1	3	2
Hermès	1	3	1
Sol de Janeiro	1	2	2
Carrefour	1	2	2
Maybelline	1	2	2
E.Leclerc	1	2	2
Monoprix	·	3	2
L'Oréal Paris	1	2	2
Planity	·	2	2
Clarins	·	2	2
Nuxe	1	2	1
Kiko Milano	1	1	1
Biotherm	1	1	1
Makeup Revolution	1	1	1
Prada	1	1	1
Treatwell	·	2	1
Lancôme	1	1	1
Montblanc	1	1	1
Notino	1	1	1

Store pages and perfume guides are the sources

sephora.fr is the website cited most, in 7 answers, then planity.com and tendance-parfums.com in 6 each, marionnaud.fr and nocibe.fr in 5. Beauty media and review sites follow: Marie Claire's beauty reviews, Beauté Test and Fragrance Finder, in 3 answers each.

Retailer websiteBrand websiteOther website

1. sephora.fr7 · 19%
2. planity.com6 · 17%
3. tendance-parfums.com6 · 17%
4. marionnaud.fr5 · 14%
5. nocibe.fr5 · 14%
6. amazon.fr3 · 8%
7. avis-beaute.marieclaire.fr3 · 8%
8. beaute-test.com3 · 8%
9. fragrancefinder.fr3 · 8%
10. notino.fr3 · 8%

What this means for beauty retailers and brands

• The leader is clear, the rest is open. Sephora is named in almost half of the answers. Nocibé and Marionnaud follow, but on most questions the answers name only one of them.
• Services need their own pages. The answers about beauty salons go to Planity and Treatwell, not to the chains that run salons. A salon service that the assistants cannot read about is not recommended.
• Perfume answers stop at the brand. When the answer names a fragrance without a store, the store that describes that fragrance best, with its price and its notes, is the one an assistant can add.
• Price questions favour supermarkets. On cheap makeup the answers send shoppers to Auchan, Carrefour, E.Leclerc and Monoprix. A perfumery that wants these shoppers needs pages about its affordable ranges.

Method

12 questions in French, written as French shoppers would ask them, across perfume, makeup, skincare, gifts and beauty salons. Each question was asked once to ChatGPT (with web search), Gemini and Google AI Mode, from France, on October 26, 2026: 36 answers. We looked in each answer for 65 beauty retailers, booking sites and brands (names and common spellings), counted the answers naming each, their position among those names in the answer, and the websites cited.

This is a snapshot: three models, one day and 12 questions. AI answers vary from one session to the next, so a difference of one or two answers between two names is not significant. A shopping centre named in an address (a salon "in the Auchan shopping centre") is not counted for the retailer.