Ulta Beauty has officially launched its marketplace offerings online, where customers can shop from more than 100 new brands.
Dubbed the UB Marketplace and created with Mirakl, the platform launched a couple of weeks ago, according to an email to customers on Sept. 29 from Ulta.
In a press release from the beauty retailer on Tuesday, Ulta said it plans to quickly scale its UB Marketplace assortment over the next 12 to 18 months.
“UB Marketplace allows us to deliver more newness, faster entry into emerging subcategories and trends, and deeper category authority – while keeping the guest experience unmistakably Ulta Beauty,” Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer at Ulta Beauty, said in a statement. “This thoughtfully curated model scales discovery and brand building for our partners, and ensures guests enjoy the same benefits they love – Ulta Beauty Rewards, easy returns and a unified, trusted shopping experience.”
The seller listings are integrated into Ulta’s other online offerings with unified search results, shopping carts, returns and checkout processes. While shoppers can earn Ulta Beauty Rewards points on marketplace purchases, they cannot redeem those points on marketplace listed items, per the September email.
On an unofficial Reddit forum about Ulta, some customers have complained in recent weeks about the rollout of the marketplace offerings, wishing for the ability to filter out such listings. Meanwhile, other posts on the subreddit have called out an important distinction about how marketplace sellers are selected.
Notably different than some other online retail marketplaces, like on Best Buy and Walmart, the platform is not available for third-party sellers and is only open by invitation directly to brands.
When asked if it had plans to offer a filter to remove UB Marketplace listings, Ulta Beauty told Retail Dive it did not have such a function, noting instead that product pages have a clear UB Marketplace label on them.
“Every item is fulfilled by authentic brands we’ve vetted for quality, authenticity and compliance to ensure they meet the same standards as our core assortment,” Ulta Beauty told Retail Dive in a statement. “The only difference is fulfillment occurs directly from the invited brand, with the same Ulta Beauty benefits (rewards on eligible purchases and easy in-store returns). We’re actively gathering guest feedback and will continue to test, learn and optimize the experience.”
New brands available through UB Marketplace span the beauty, lifestyle and wellness categories, including Manucurist, Apotheke and Nuxe.
Ulta first teased its plans to launch UB Marketplace in March, after revealing that it had lost share for the first time in the beauty industry last year.
