Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA)

Ulta Beauty, Inc. is an international specialty beauty retailer and a beauty destination for cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, wellness products, hair care products, and salon services. Founded in Illinois in 1990, it built a specialty retail concept offering a broad range of brands and price points, select beauty services, and a convenient shopping environment, at a time when prestige, mass, and salon products were sold through separate channels. Its U.S. operations make it the largest specialty beauty retailer in the U.S. In 2025, management unveiled the Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan, with three priorities: driving core business growth, scaling new accretive businesses, and aligning the company's foundation for future success.

The company sells prestige, mass, and salon products across cosmetics, fragrance, skincare, bath and body, haircare, salon styling tools, and wellness. Ulta U.S. offers approximately 30,000 products from about 600 established and emerging brands through its stores, Ulta.com, and mobile applications. It also sells its private label brand, Ulta Beauty Collection, and exclusive third-party brands such as Cécred and Peach & Lily. Private label and long-term exclusives were about 4% of net sales in fiscal 2025, and about 11% when short-term exclusives are included. Each typical U.S. store is about 10,000 square feet and includes a roughly 950-square-foot full-service salon. A smaller 5,000 to 7,500 square foot prototype is also used. Digital fulfillment options include ship to home, buy online pick-up in store, curbside pickup, Store 2 Door, ship from store, and same-day delivery. Strategic initiatives include a focus on wellness, UB Marketplace (an integrated online marketplace), international expansion, and the UB Media retail media network.

Ulta targets the "beauty enthusiast," a consumer passionate about beauty who uses it for self-expression and expects a high-quality shopping experience. Management estimates about 140 million beauty enthusiasts in the U.S., and the U.S. beauty products and salon services market was approximately $126 billion in 2025 according to Euromonitor International and IBIS World. The Ulta Beauty Rewards loyalty program had more than 46 million members at the end of fiscal 2025 and accounted for about 95% of total sales. Co-branded and private label credit cards support the program. Internationally, the company operates Space NK, a luxury beauty retailer in the U.K. and Ireland, a joint venture in Mexico, and a franchise in the Middle East.

Ulta U.S. operates more than 1,500 stores, mostly in high-traffic locations such as power strip centers, and believes it could grow to more than 1,800 freestanding stores over the long term. The average investment to open a new store is approximately $2.4 million. Online orders are fulfilled through distribution centers, market fulfillment centers, one e-commerce-only fast fulfillment center, and select stores. Its top ten brand partners, including L'Oréal and Estée Lauder Companies, represented about 51% of Ulta U.S.'s net sales in fiscal 2025 and 54% in fiscal 2024. All brand partners and their subcontractors must follow the Ulta Vendor Standards. The company manages the full development cycle of its private label products from concept through production. Marketing combines digital, social media, television, radio, and print advertising, along with influencer and affiliate programs.