Once upon a time, beauty shopping was done in person. Customers flocked to major department stores like Macy’s and Saks, where a shopgirl could assist them in finding the perfect lipstick shade or recommend the best skin care products for their skin type.
But those days are long gone.
Online beauty sales are growing at an expedited rate, more than nine times faster than in-store sales, according to NIQ’s State of Beauty 2025 report. In the U.S. alone, online beauty sales grew 21% year over year, indicating that shoppers are much more interested in convenience than they are in testing products in-person.
“Digital-first strategies are now the backbone of beauty retail,” NIQ Vice President of Beauty & Personal Care Tara James Taylor said in a statement. “Brands must meet consumers where they are — online, on social, and on mobile. Today’s consumer demands flexibility and convenience.”
Taking that advice to heart, Ulta Beauty is making a new change that will make shopping at the retailer easier and more convenient than ever.
Ulta is expanding e-commerce fulfillment
Over the last year, Ulta has doubled the number of stores that fulfill e-commerce orders.
More than 1,000 of Ulta Beauty’s U.S. locations can now process and dispatch orders made through the retailer’s website or mobile app, according to a recent report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is up from just 500 stores in 2024.
For frequent Ulta shoppers, this means one thing: faster delivery times.
Online shoppers no longer have to wait for one of the company’s larger distribution centers or market fulfillment centers to receive, package, and ship the order from hundreds of miles away. Now, their orders can be processed and handled by stores just up the road, where turnaround times are quicker and shipping distances are shorter.
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Ulta’s rapid rollout of store-based fulfillment centers can be largely attributed to its implementation of AI.
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman called out the retailer’s “investment in AI and automation” as a major advancement the company made during Q4.
The “implementation of an AI-powered order management system to optimize fulfillment across our network, enabling our expansion of ship from store and reducing out-of-stocks and markdown risks,” was a highlight of the last few months, Steelman told investors during Ulta’s Q4 FY2025 earnings call.
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Ulta Beauty is changing up how you can shop
The increase in the number of stores acting as fulfillment centers is especially important, given how quickly Ulta is expanding its ecommerce platforms.
In October 2025, the beauty retailer launched UB Marketplace.
“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,” Ulta Beauty Chief Merchandising and Digital Officer Lauren Brindley said in a statement at the time.
At the close of Q4 FY2025, Steelman told investors the platform now offered more than 200 brands and 5,000 SKUs, giving customers access to one of the biggest assortments of new and emerging brands in the beauty space.
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Just a few months later, in early 2026, Ulta launched a storefront on TikTok Shop.
“We will initially launch with a thoughtfully curated assortment of Only at Ulta brands, which will add another exciting tool to our brand-building playbook,” Steelman said on the earnings call, noting that there were plans to expand the offerings over time.
TikTok Shop has a huge user base, estimated to hit 57.7 million shoppers in 2026, according to market research company Emarketer.
“TikTok Shop’s user base skews young and discovery-driven, with much of the research agreeing that growth is primarily coming from Gen Z and millennial adoption,” Emarketer Senior Forecasting DirectorOscar Orozco said. “Health, wellness, and beauty are top categories, followed by accessories, household items, fashion, and cosmetics, according to our research.”
With these new selling platforms, Ulta is poised to see massive growth in its e-commerce sales. Store-based fulfillment centers, then, will be vital in ensuring the retailer is able to maintain and improve delivery speeds.
New at Ulta
If your beauty routine could use a refresh this spring, Ulta has a selection of new and emerging brands available on UB Marketplace, its TikTok Shop storefront, and mobile app. Highlights include:
- DRMTLGY, a dermatologist-tested skin care brand
- Hairstory, a clean-ingredient, refillable hair care brand
- Iota, a treatment-focused body care brand
- Made by Mitchell, a do-it-all makeup brand that won’t break the bank
Source: Ulta
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