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On Tuesday, Ulta Beauty launched its new Amazon-style marketplace feature, UB Marketplace. Originally announced in March 2025, the marketplace, which is integrated into Ulta Beauty’s e-commerce site, has over 100 brands that were previously not carried in-store or online.
Nail care label Manucurist, luxury home fragrance maker Apotheke and men’s grooming brands Atwater and Oars + Alps are part of the initial lineup, allowing Ulta Beauty to more quickly introduce trending brands without going through the traditional merchandising process.
“Getting a new seller, much less a new product, up and running on Ulta.com is now a matter of days instead of weeks, or even months, as it might have been before,” said Josh Friedman, the senior vice president of e-commerce and digital at Ulta Beauty. It also offers brands the prestige and scale of selling with the Ulta Beauty association, but removes the need to meet a certain minimum order requirement or invest in in-store visual merchandising to be part of the assortment.
The marketplace is designed to respond to customer demand for new products and categories as trending brands on TikTok quickly earn big sales on Amazon before they can reach major retailers. Brands like Medicube and Beauty of Joseon launched in the past three months at Ulta Beauty and Sephora, respectively, after first becoming beauty best-sellers on Amazon and TikTok Shop.
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The launch comes as Amazon continues to siphon beauty market share, especially in the masstige segment, and aims to complement Ulta Beauty’s core offerings without cannibalising existing sales. In August, Ulta Beauty shuttered its shop-in-shop partnership with mass retailer Target, which the retailer said would allow it focus on its own stores and services.
Like Amazon, brands will list items themselves, but Ulta Beauty is differentiating itself from the behemoth through its curation and by offering loyalty points.
“There was never a desire, much less a strategy, to be ‘the everything store,’ or to have an endless aisle,” said Friedman. “We wanted to be very purposeful with the assortment we brought on.”
The marketplace is designed to be seamless for guests and sellers, said Friedman, with easy returns via mail or in Ulta Beauty stores. While Ulta Beauty will not handle fulfilment from marketplace brands, all participants are required to ship from a US address to ensure speed. The marketplace was developed with specialist firm Mirakl, which also built marketplace offerings for fashion names like Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Madewell.
In the biggest contrast with Amazon, the platform is invitation-only, prioritising authenticity and avoiding resellers.
“We’ve heard that loud and clear from our [customers], that they expect us to make sure that they’re getting first-class quality and first-class sellers, and not someone else trying to sell other people’s stuff. We take that obligation very seriously,” said Friedman.
With Ulta Beauty’s personalised, algorithm-driven site search, product listings from the marketplace will not receive lower listing priority than the retailer’s own stock. But, like Amazon, marketplace brands will have the opportunity to buy sponsored search listings via Ulta Beauty’s UB Media platform.
For the future, the retailer’s goal is to “double or triple the number of brands” in the next few years, said Friedman. While marketplace items won’t be sold in Ulta Beauty stores, it is also considering an in-store pickup option.
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