On Tuesday morning beauty’s two powerhouse retail players, Ulta Beauty and Target, announced a collaboration to create shop-in-shops with curated prestige brands in Target stores under the Ulta Beauty at Target banner. The 1,000 square-foot shops will debut at more than 100 Target stores nationwide and online beginning in 2021. Plans include scaling to hundreds of additional locations over time. Brands to be featured in the shops will be a combination of established and emerging brands.
“In partnership with Ulta Beauty, a company that shares our deep guest focus, we are able to expand our growing beauty business with new, exciting brands, an immersive experience, and loyalty benefits to transform how our guests shop for all their beauty needs,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO, Target.
Mary Dillon, CEO, Ulta Beauty , said of the new partnership, “Ulta Beauty at Target reflects further evolution in our omnichannel strategy, rooted in unlocking the potential of our physical and digital footprints, creating more seamless shopping opportunities for our loyal guests and continuing to lead the beauty industry. More than ever before, now is the time for innovation in retail.”
Newly hired Target team members will serve as experts within the new beauty space. Shop-in-shops are expected to be enhanced with Ulta Beauty’s immersive, in-store digital discovery tools such as GLAMLab, a virtual try-on tool that provides safe trial across beauty categories. Target.com and the Target app will also reflect the look and feel of the elevated Ulta Beauty at Target experience beginning in the second half of 2021.