When shoppers enter select Ulta Beauty stores this week — 350 locations to be exact — they will encounter a new section simply called “Wellness.” Situated in the bath and body section of stores, it’s Ulta’s first outward-facing push in the wellness category. It will be compromised of eight brands, including skin and body company Yuni, butt mask brand Bawdy Beauty and influencer-led beauty brand Megababe, and over 80 total products, with more set to be added soon. By late summer, the experience will expand to 700 stores and Ulta’s wellness products will account for about 25% of the overall bath and body assortment.
“There is a growing interest from the consumer — and this goes beyond the Ulta consumer — around what they are putting on their bodies, what they are putting in them and how to achieve overall beauty,” said Monica Arnaudo, Ulta senior vice president of merchandising. “This quest for wellbeing has evolved into beauty and self-care.” Beauty and personal care products currently account for more than $1 billion of the larger $4.2 billion global wellness industry. Meanwhile, Ulta’s skin, bath and fragrance category is its second largest segment after cosmetics; it accounted for 21% of its $2.1 million fourth-quarter net sales.
Ulta has been slowly testing out this type of “good-for-you” product with brands like Megababe since last May, primarily online, but its official Wellness section follows Nordstrom’s Well Beauty shop that debuted in January 2018, as well as Bloomingdale’sWellChemist experience and Sephora’s Clean at Sephora and Wellness Wall plays. Each retailer has its own interpretation of what wellness is, and at Ulta, nothing in the assortment is over $48. (Fur’s Silk Scrub exfoliating treatment tops out the range.) This is what the retailer believes is its point of differentiation.
“It’s a curated assortment, but also broad. We knew it couldn’t be intimidating and had to reflect our brand’s personality,” said Arnaudo. “Our take is that it’s beauty with benefits. The products feel approachable and accessible, whether you are somebody that is an expert in this space or somebody that is new to this segment.”
“We are a brand for everyone and not just one that sells to coastal customers,” said Fur co-founder Laura Schubert. “Ulta gets that wellness doesn’t have to feel exclusionary.” Fur debuted on Ulta.com in March — its Fur Oil, a salve for the pubic area, is a best seller on Ulta.com — and the brand will debut in Ulta stores as part of the wellness experience for the first time this week.
Though many of Ulta’s wellness products touch on the burgeoning trends in beauty and personal care, like sexual wellness and cannabis (for example, Yuni’s Rejuvenating Facial Oil contains cannabis sativa seed oil), many of its wellness offerings stemmed from finding updates to often forgotten categories in pharmacies or grocery stores.
Carrying Yuni’s Shower Sheets, which are full-body bathing wipes, is a response to millennials’ and Gen Z’s active lifestyle. Including Megababe, which sold of out its alcohol-free, paraben-free Rosy Pits deodorant last May after debuting in Ulta’s grab-and-go “Impulse” fixture, is an example of driving newness in the personal care category. Its Thigh Rescue anti-chafing stick is its No. 1 product at Ulta.
Megababe will be launching three new deodorant products with Ulta, including deodorant wipes and a body powder. “Everyone is looking for aluminum-free and non-toxic options, and realize the importance of natural,” said founder Katie Sturino. “Ulta understands our brand and how we want to be solution-oriented in ways that others aren’t.” Megababe and Truly Organic, the latter of which is known for its rainbow-colored hair and body treatments, will have the most real estate within Ulta’s wellness experience.
Though the focus, for now, is the in-store updates, the retailer — in true Ulta omnichannel fashion — has developed a new online navigation under the bath and body category, dubbed “Self Care and Wellness.” Many of the brands that are in the Wellness section in physical stores, like Fur, were already online favorites, said Arnaudo. Ulta will also be messaging the launch of the Wellness section in pulsed emails and social media posts by brand and by product, according to the company.
“Wellness is a growth area for us and it continues to be an important area of the business, but it doesn’t have to be so serious,” said Arnaudo. “Ulta’s take is that it can be fun. We want to evolve with it and grow with the trends.” — Priya Rao, beauty editor
https://www.glossy.co/beauty/beauty-and-wellness-briefing-inside-ulta-beautys-big-wellness-play