Managerial Analysis : Ulta Beauty Corporation

The definition of true beauty continues to evolve as generations pass and new ones emerge. Ulta Beauty, a popular cosmetic store, sells products with the aim to make women feel confident in their skin. Their use of advertisements helps spread the word about new, improved product lines and reach out to potential buyers. Selling makeup is the obvious goal of a cosmetic store, but the kind of consumers they attract and how varies between different franchises. When a company displays their products in one shot instead of in a commercial, the task of conveying the message becomes harder. Ulta Beauty persuades women to purchase their products by pointing out buyers’ insecurities while still appearing to promote empowering feminist values.

This report explores and considers the various factors which impacts lush cosmetic’s product in term of entering the market. There are methods which can be taken with this organisation, were researched; the main focus will be to:

Companies across the world are determined to compete for the survival of their brands. The magnitude of success of the marketing and advertising strategies of a new or existing product is majorly depended upon the organization itself. As a matter of stated facts when an organization advertises its products in the market they first have to identify the relevant answers of some questions like what is the product aiming at? What benefits will the user seek by this product? How the organization plans to position itself within the market and what differential advantages will the product offer over the competitors. Because the bottom line of all marketing and advertising campaigns, is to provide the suitable collection of benefits to the end users of the product. Successful companies are usually recognized as iconic brands. Success of a

Ulta stores across the nation carry both high end brands and drugstore brands. Their selection of different products in the store carries around 20,000 with more than 500 brands. Ulta doesn’t simply limited their stock to makeup but they also carry hair care products and have an on site salon. Shoppers may choose from more than 50 different hair tools, as well. Additionally, Ulta offers quality makeup, hair

The strength of Ulta involves several aspects that give this organization the upper-hand in their industry market. The ability of Ulta opening multiple stores in a short period of time shows that the barrier of entry into the cosmetics industry is low for this company. Ulta has been able to establish brand loyalty with their customers, which is contributed from the numerous exclusive products that they offer in their stores. Their stylists have achieved excellent customer responsiveness from the services they provided at their full service saloons. An important factor about their financial structure is that Ulta have a very low debt percentage; this is a key strength that this company has over their competitors.

They have provided consumers with mass salon products and services by capitalizing on beauty trends and marketing strategy. ULTA provides beauty products from various brands and manufacturers at various price points.

The beauty industry is very large and continues to grow; according to Euromonitor International and IBIS World Inc., the industry represents about $127 million in sales from beauty products and salon services, as stated in Ulta’s 2015 annual report (Ulta Beauty, 2016 p. 5). Ulta Beauty currently competes with highly regarded department stores, salons, and even Amazon. Despite this, Ulta Beauty has maintained its place among leaders within the beauty industry, according to Elaine Low for Investors.com (Low, 2016).

There are several ways Ulta Beauty has worked to create a positive notion associated with their name. One of their longest running partnerships is with the

Loblaw Companies Limited is the leader of Canada’s food and pharmacy, their independently-operated stores, food and household products as well as pharmacies can be found in every Canadian’s neighborhoods.

3.) Strong presence in high margin health services business. In addition to UnitedHealth Group’s leadership position in the health benefits market segment, UnitedHealth Group has strong information and technology based health services platform through its business segments which is Ingenix, OptumHealth and PrescriptionSolutions. The “CNN MONEY” (2012) website states Ingenix is one of the largest health information, technology and consulting companies in the world. The UnitedHealth Group derived $2.3 billion of revenues from Ingenix which contributed $284 million (excluding $200 million in goodwill impairment and business line deposition charges) of operating profit, and an operating margin of 12.1% during FY2010.

There is a famous saying that ‘cosmetics are not selling product but beauty.’ Therefore, it is important to keep planning and developing product to meet the needs of customers who pursue beauty. In line

Ulta Beauty is a chain beauty store with over 19,000 employees and 974 locations all across America. Ulta carries 20,000 products and 460 brands that consist of, cosmetic, skincare, haircare, and fragrance products for men and women.  Majority of their inventory and sales come from cosmetic makeup brands. Ulta carries higher end makeup brands and well as lower end drug store brands. Their main target market and customers are women of all ages who use any type of beauty product. Their wide range of products can reach to all types of customers and they offer something that majority of people use. In 2013 Mary Dillon former chief of US cellular and chief executive of Mcdonald's became the new CEO. Since then Ulta sales have increased largely. At the end of 2015

Currently, the business has not ventured in the cosmetic market of London and Canada. Canada and London provide an opportunity for the company to expand its market through its international entry strategy of retailing and B2C framework. The SWOT analysis of the company shows a wide range of strengths and opportunities for the company’s future success such as market gap (London and Canada), Globalization, technology and good customer relation (BBB accreditation). The company demonstrates high capability of sustenance and survival through retailing, personal selling, E-commerce, E-marketing, Fashion Collaboration and other B2B platforms.

Her transformation of Burberry had become a text book example of how to transform a business that other luxury brands are sometimes said to be “doing a Burberry” (Financial Times 2004). In 2005 Angela Ahrendts, replaced Bravo as Chief Executive who made changes to Burberry product line by making checks more stable and by focusing more on higher-margin products like handbags and perfumes (Friedman 2011).

Avon, started its journey in the early 1886 is now the oldest and the largest marketers and manufactures of the beauty products. The advertisements from “Ding dong, Avon Calling” to “Hello Tomorrow” and from “You never looked so good” to the latest one “The Company For Women”, always helped Avon to improve its image and enhance the marketing strategies to serve the purpose. One of the amazing facts about Avon includes that it’s headquarter is situated in USA but major portion of its sales comes from outside North America. Avon has captured a huge market all over the world and its distributing the beauty solutions to almost all parts of the world. With Avon being a part of 112 countries, the company has