Ulta Beauty stores move into Target with the "Inception Retail" model
Tired of living in Sephora's (eye)shadow... Ulta Beauty needs a place to crash this pandemic cuffing season — so it's moving in with Target. But Target's offering more than a blow-up mattress: it'll set aside 1K square-foot sections in over 100 Target stores for Ulta mini-shops starting in 2021. Tarjay's planning to expand the beauty chain to hundreds more stores over time. Ulta stock got a 7% glow-up on the partnership.
"In the red"... every company's lipstick shade nightmare. Ulta narrowly avoided a loss last quarter as profit plunged nearly 95%. Most of its sales come from its 1K+ stores, which were forced to close for most of the quarter. But the tide could turn with this key partnership:
- Ulta's getting an "Essential Shield." Even if lockdowns get reimposed, grocery-slinging Target will get to stay open.
- Ulta's getting unintentional exposure. You’re not likely to hit up Ulta for lipliner (masks and Zoom killed that). But you might pick up face serum on your way to buy hummus.
- It's getting featured on Target’s website and app — prime real-estate for a company that badly needs to up its digital game.
Inception Retail could be the future... This store-within-a-store model sounds a lot like department stores. But malls and department stores are filing for bankruptcy and shuttering in droves. Meanwhile, Amazon is toying with the idea of turning bankrupt JC Penney and Sears into fulfillment centers. To fill this void, pandemic winners Target and Walmart have expanded their clothes and cosmetics offerings. Inception Retail is the next push into malls' territory.