Ulta Beauty wanted to expand its brand and category assortment with speed and flexibility without compromising the seamless shopping experience customers expect. They needed to overcome:

• An 18-month buying cycle that required major inventory commitments and early trend predictions in a fast-moving industry
• A lengthy brand onboarding process that delayed getting new products listed directly on-site
• High upfront investments in time and money to test new categories, with no guarantee of ROI

Merkle partnered with Ulta Beauty to build UB Marketplace, a Mirakl-powered platform that lets Ulta expand its assortment without taking on the inventory risk, long lead times, or upfront investment of traditional retail. The marketplace gives customers access to additional beauty products and adjacent lifestyle categories online, meeting rising demand for greater product variety and a more convenient way to shop.

As a platinum Mirakl partner,  Merkle’s experts led strategy and implementation, integrating the marketplace with Ulta’s existing systems to support its launch. To protect the quality and consistency customers expect, UB Marketplace uses an invite-only model for brand onboarding. The shopping experience stays the same: products appear alongside the existing assortment with a single cart and checkout, customers earn Ulta Beauty Rewards, and returns can happen in-store.