On Thursday, Ulta Beauty reported a net sales increase of 12.9% to reach $2.9 billion in sales during the quarter ending on November 1.
Driven by Black Friday sales and more than 33,000 in-store events, plus growth in fragrance and skin care, the company reported a 3.8% increase in average ticket value and a 2.4% increase in transactions.
Sales at Ulta Beauty have been on a continuous upward swing since Steelman took over as CEO in January. In May, the retailer reported 4.5% net sales growth. This doubled to a 9.3% net sales spike reported in August, while today’s earnings nearly tripled its May growth rate.
Still, CEO Kecia Steelman said she is prudent in her guidance for the remainder of the calendar year. “We’re pleased with our Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance. At the same time, we know the biggest selling weeks are still ahead of us, and we’re mindful of the challenging macro backdrop,” Steelman said. “These next nine weeks are big weeks, and there’s just so much volatility that can happen.”
This cautious approach reflects the store’s BFCM results, which Steelman did not itemize but noted some telling consumer signals. “Our insights suggest beauty consumers’ budgets are tight, and they are focused on value,” Steelman said. “Despite this, beauty enthusiasts tell us they intend to spend on beauty for seasonal needs, affordable splurges and gifts for loved ones.”
She also mentioned that consumers are “focused on replenishing their essentials and strategically making smart purchases around strong value, holiday limited editions and deals, and early gift-set drops,” she said. “We will leverage these key insights to ensure we’re staying relevant and delivering for our guests during this important holiday season.”
Broken out by category, “fragrance sustained its position as our strongest growing category, delivering double-digit comparable sales growth in Q3 newness.” This growth was bifurcated between luxury and mass, with Valentino, Miu Miu, Dolce & Gabbana and Squishmallows taking top sales spots. “This quarter demonstrated the power of our unique, low-to-luxury brand assortment,” Steelman said.
To make room for the quarter-over-quarter growth of fragrance, the team rolled out more shelf space for perfume last month. “In October, we rolled out incremental shelf space for fragrance in more than 60% of our U.S. stores, which we believe positions us to capture holiday demand and beyond for this important and growing category,” Steelman said.
Elsewhere, hair-tool sales are down, due to tariff price increases, while product sales from Nutrafol, Moroccanoil, Redken and Matrix were up. Mass makeup also spiked, with sales winners being NYX, Morphe and L’Oréal, Steelman said. Fenty Skin, Byoma and Starface, meanwhile, led skin-care sales.
