In an effort to bolster its digital operations, together with enhancing the personalization it affords shoppers on its web site, Ulta Magnificence has purchased two know-how corporations.
The retailer, No. 91 within the Web Retailer High 1000, mentioned at its analyst and investor convention final week that it has acquired QM Scientific and GlamST—two know-how startups in synthetic intelligence and augmented actuality. QM Scientific operates a synthetic intelligence-powered purchasing assistant. The seller’s know-how learns every particular person buyer’s preferences and habits over time, enabling gadgets, apps or bots to reply to consumers with related and well timed solutions and options. GlamST affords cell, net and in-store digital makeover instruments that use augmented actuality. Augmented actuality superimposes photographs over real-world objects by means of system cameras. Ulta didn’t disclose the acquisition costs for the 2 corporations.
The retailer additionally instructed buyers and analysts that e-commerce gross sales grew 42.2% for the third quarter of 2018. Ulta will launch its full Q3 earnings outcomes on Dec. 6.
Different notable particulars from the convention embrace:
- Purchases from its Ultamate Rewards loyalty program members now account for greater than 95% of its complete firm gross sales. In 2017, Ulta grew its energetic loyalty members by 18.8% to succeed in 27.8 million energetic members. It now has round 30 million energetic loyalty members.
- Cellular now accounts for 54% of complete e-commerce gross sales, up from 46% a yr earlier.
- Ulta plans to ship all on-line orders inside two days by 2021. To realize this, it plans to open an e-commerce-specific achievement heart subsequent yr that may fulfill 30,000 orders per day, maintain roughly 25,000 SKUs and is smaller than different achievement facilities at 175,000 to 200,000 sq. ft. It additionally plans to launch ship-from-store in choose shops subsequent yr to assist it velocity order supply.
- Ulta plans to open 80 shops in 2019, 75 shops in 2020 and 70 shops in 2021. As of November, Ulta operates 1,163 retail shops throughout all 50 states
Earlier this yr, Dave Kimbell, chief merchandising and advertising officer for Ulta, instructed Web Retailer that omnichannel prospects—which means prospects who have interaction with a retailer in multiple channel—spend 2.7-times greater than its store-only consumers. Kimbell additionally says Ulta’s new “store-to-door” functionality makes all merchandise accessible on a regular basis to consumers by enabling retailer associates to order and ship gadgets which can be offered out in shops or solely accessible on-line. “This resolution is ramping up sooner than anticipated and satisfying a robust demand for online-only manufacturers that aren’t but accessible in all shops,” Kimbell mentioned.
Ulta’s app permits consumers to entry digital coupons, product opinions, use voice search or nearly attempt on make-up by means of a function known as GLAMlab. Ulta didn’t say in its investor’s day presentation the way it plans to make use of the newly acquired augmented actuality know-how from GlamST.
Ulta isn’t alone amongst magnificence retailers in utilizing augmented actuality to attempt to drive extra gross sales. Hair colour retailer Madison Reed final month launched a brand new try-on device that makes use of augmented actuality and a client’s system digicam to assist a client decide if a possible new hair hue will look good on her. Guests to Madison-Reed.com can use their cellphone—or any system with a digicam—to see a lifelike simulation of themselves with a brand new hair colour. For the digicam shy, a selfie will work too, Madison Reed says.
Madison Reed is utilizing know-how from Good Corp.’s YouCam Make-up, which is understood for its downloadable augmented actuality apps. However for Madison Reed, the device is embedded within the hair colour retailer’s web site. Shoppers can use the device with their smartphone, pill or desktop laptop, Madison Reed says.
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