Fenty Beauty Expands Into Ulta Beauty at Target
Fenty Beauty is in expansion mode.
After entering Ulta Beauty last year, the beauty brand is now expanding into Ulta Beauty at Target, the retailer’s partnership with Target Corp. It debuted last week in all shop-in-shops with roughly 70 stock keeping units.
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It comes at a time of success for that partnership. On the company’s most recent earnings call for the second quarter, Christina Hennington, Target’s executive vice president and chief growth officer, noted that Target’s core beauty business was up double-digits while Ulta Beauty at Target sales had doubled.
“We have had a strong beauty business for years, and our guest has loved the discovery that we’ve brought in with Ulta Beauty at Target,” said Jill Sando, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer at Target. “You get the authority that Ulta brings to the table, and the brands that guests were not able to purchase at Target. We’re able to build on that sense of discovery, and they love, within that experience, greater accessibility. The response has been fantastic.”
Sando said the reasoning behind taking on the brand was simple — consumers had been asking for it. “We look at curating brands based on our guest feedback based on opportunities we see within the assortment, and just want to have that steady pace of newness,” she said. “That sense of discovering newness is a key component of this strategy.”
Part of Fenty’s offering in the shop-in-shops will be Fenty Snackz, a set of minis across lip and complexion products. Sando said a set of lip glosses quickly became the partnership’s bestselling product and that the brand is now the top cosmetics brand at Ulta Beauty at Target.
“It is not the lowest price point in the assortment, but the value is tremendous,” Sando said of the product. “It gives the guests an opportunity to experiment a little bit. If you think about discovery, if you think about trial and if you think about the opportunity to try new brands, these smaller sets have been a big success across the board.”
Monica Arnaudo, Ulta’s chief merchandising officer, echoed those sentiments, saying the propensity for smaller sizes was a difference between Ulta’s core customer and that of Ulta Beauty at Target.
“They’re gravitating towards travel and trial because they’re more accessible in price point,” Arnaudo said. “It gives the consumer the ability to try something at a lower price point, and then they come back in and they buy the full size. The important aspect for both of us is to create this ecosystem through loyalty. Today, nearly 3 million guests have linked their Ultamate Rewards and their Target Circle Accounts.”
Leaning into travel and trial isn’t a specific strategy to Fenty Beauty. “We focused in on the key bestsellers in full sizes, but we leaned in on travel and trial and we started seeing the traction there,” Arnaudo said. “Also with lower price point items like mascara — highly replenishable, accessible price point. We’ve been leaning in with our brands to start looking at more of these sizes.”
Overall, Arnaudo said that skin care and makeup’s performances at Ulta Beauty at Target were on par with the expectations, though hair and fragrance gained more traction than anticipated. “In fragrance, we only entered with the smallest assortment with Ariana Grande. Now, since there’s been such desire from the guest, we’ve added a few more brands within fragrance and hair, such as Ralph Lauren, Billie Eilish and Verb, Living Proof and Ouidad,” Arnaudo said.
Arnaudo doesn’t see celebrity brands, such as Fenty, Ariana Grande or Billie Eilish, waning any time soon. “Celebrity is always going to be important, and how we do celebrity has got to be really well thought out because the consumer isn’t just looking for a brand with a celebrity’s name on it,” Arnaudo said. “They want something that is authentic and that is filling a need for them, something that is innovative, and that the celebrity or influencer really believes in.”
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