Ulta Beauty Uses AI to Bridge Social Discovery and In-Store Experiences

Watch more: From Scroll to Store: How Ulta Beauty Is Connecting Commerce, Content and Community

Social discovery moves at the speed of trends. Large language models (LLMs) are reshaping how people search and buy online. Yet brick-and-mortar remains the heart of beauty.

Ulta Beauty sits at the center of all three forces, building a connected commerce strategy designed for consumers who shift rapidly between digital inspiration and the in-store experience.

In a conversation with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster as part of “The SKU” series, Josh Friedman, senior vice president of eCommerce and digital at Ulta Beauty, said the typical shopper focuses on the end result, rather than the means, when it comes to commerce.

Webster noted that omnichannel has become a buzzword that means little to the consumer, who simply expects continuity. Friedman agreed, saying the job is to make channels irrelevant. “For the customer, there is no distinguishing” between channels, Friedman said.

Friedman said the beauty category thrives on experimentation and constant innovation. “In the beauty category, newness is always big,” he told Webster. Guests try products, especially makeup, for variety, inspiration and fun, especially as new routines and formats surface across social platforms. At the same time, many depend on their tried and true items, so Ulta launched a replenishment platform that simplifies recurring purchases, underpinned by data and digital tools that anticipate consumer needs.

The Store Is Still at the Center

Even with digital acceleration, the store remains the gravitational center of Ulta Beauty’s model. Guests want to see, smell and try products, interact with associates and use services. Friedman said this reality shapes every decision. “In store experiences are paramount,” he said. “Our guests love to go in-store. They want to see our products, touch them, smell them, try them on.” Ulta’s digital investments, including virtual try on capabilities and personalization tools, are meant to “be the mortar around those in-store bricks.”

Social media drives discovery, and Ulta has built a process to identify and validate trends. “We have our own recruited group of influencers, and we rely on them to keep us honest,” Friedman said. TikTok remains the most important platform for beauty momentum, although Ulta tracks several others. When something spikes, category managers move quickly to evaluate the brand or product behind it.

To turn these trends into shoppable experiences, Ulta launched its curated marketplace earlier this year. “The real unlock for the marketplace was to be able to get them available to our guests in a very quick manner,” Friedman said. Ulta can now onboard certain brands in weeks instead of months. The marketplace also extends Ulta’s assortment into categories guests expect to find, such as wellness, grooming and beauty tech.

“For us, it is really the second floor of our digital store,” Friedman said. It allows guests to put more in their cart, earn loyalty points, and shop categories they believe belong within Ulta’s ecosystem.  But the marketplace is not open entry. “We only invite brands on,” he said.” Ulta evaluates product quality, content quality and fulfillment capability before a brand is accepted.

Online Touch Points Multiply

Webster highlighted how digital is no longer one channel but now branches out across several avenues. “Online has so many different touch points now,” she said. Friedman agreed, noting that new behaviors will emerge as LLMs become a standard point of discovery. Some consumers may start with broad solution questions off platform, then turn to Ulta for specific product recommendations or shade matching. Others may stay native to Ulta’s digital environment.

Digital infrastructure supports the store by creating consistency. “Any piece of inventory that is anywhere in the chain is available to any customer,” Friedman said. Guests can find items locally, associates can access beauty profiles at the POS, and account and loyalty information travels cleanly across web, app and store.

This unification was not simple. “There have been challenges over time in setting up the fulfillment methods and making sure the inventory is connected in a single place,” Friedman said. But those challenges have been solved, enabling true buy anywhere, fulfill anywhere capability.

Endless Aisle, Loyalty and Experimentation

The marketplace extends an endless aisle that lets guests explore beyond Ulta’s legacy categories. It also reinforces loyalty, where product variety, gifts with purchase and samples encourage trial. Friedman noted that during the holiday season, Ulta offers more than 150 free gift programs. These touches support the natural desire for variety while rewarding loyal behavior.

Ulta’s proof of concept for a virtual beauty advisor produced has strong results. “We got some great learnings and now we continue to tweak,” Friedman said. Guests used it for beauty questions and also for store details, inventory, return policies and loyalty programs. Ulta is now evaluating whether to build one AI agent or multiple fit for purpose agents.

The next stage of omnichannel is personalization, according to Friedman. Ulta’s 45 million loyalty members provide both implicit and explicit signals that help refine recommendations. The goal is to deepen personalization across the app and the store.

“We want to make sure that the consumer gets what she wants no matter the ways in which they want to shop,” he told Webster.