Ulta Beauty to carry MAC Cosmetics

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Mar 10, 2017

MAC announced Thursday that in early June, MAC products will land on the shelves of Ulta Beauty.

MAC cosmetics products will be stocked in 25 Ulta Beauty stores and on Ulta.com as of June but is expected to expand to over 100 stores by the end of 2017. Ulta’s key to success is its brick-and-mortar locations: each location is drive-up, stand-alone location, with every location boasting an in-house salon.

This is a huge step for MAC, who has only ever distributed via MAC stores and store-in-stores in North America. Ulta Beauty will mark the first time MAC has distributed outside its own branded brick-and-mortars.

This expanded retail reach could be incredibly profitable for the cosmetics giant. Currently, MAC stores are located in malls or on high-traffic streets. Malls have been stumbling for years – Fitch Ratings compiled a list of retail chains that face the most threat of bankruptcy late last year, and of the 30 brands named, almost all were mall-based. 

Ulta, on the other hand, had a banner year last year. The retailer announced plans to double its retail footprint to over 1,700 locations by the end of 2017. After this announcement, Ulta’s shares jumped up 11%.

The secret to Ulta’s success relies on a few factors. Firstly, the beauty retailer stocks based on buzzing beauty trends. It just launched a K-beauty section and was one of the first retailers to pick up The Honest Company after organic beauty products started growing in popularity. The beauty retailer also focuses its efforts – it only carries cosmetics and beauty products. Ulta also offers an enticing rewards program to all customers.