Ulta Beauty already sells shoppers the makings of a bedtime routine, from weighted sleep masks to magnesium body butter. Starting November 19, it will also sell them a way to see how they slept. The Oura Ring 5, which starts at $399, will arrive in 1,000 U.S. Ulta stores and on Ulta.com as the retailer’s first health tracker.
Oura’s work on cycle tracking and sleep at different stages of women’s lives helped persuade Ulta to launch at a large scale, according to Laura Beres, Ulta Beauty’s vp of wellness. “When we think about our wellness offering and what our guests are asking for, [sleep and women’s wellness] are just so linked, giving us a lot of confidence to go bigger with them initially,” she said.
Ulta already sees shoppers buying across departments for a singular purpose. Someone building a bedtime routine, for example, may pick up magnesium supplements on one trip and a magnesium body butter on the next, Beres said. A ring that tracks sleep gives Ulta another purchase to compete for. “We know 72% of [our customers] are already prioritizing wellness daily, and we know 87% of them have told us they’re going to spend the same or more in the category over the next 12 months,” Beres said.
Ulta introduced its Wellness Shop in 2021. Lemme, Saje, Nemat, MaryRuth’s, Patchology, Therabody, Cymbiotika, Arrae and Midi are among its customers’ favorite wellness brands, according to the company. In September, CEO Kecia Steelman told investors, “We do believe that wellness could be the next billion-dollar category for us.”
With Oura, Ulta is expanding that assortment into health tracking. For a limited time, Ulta will be the only specialty beauty retailer in the U.S. to sell the ring, Beres said.
Sephora also sells wearable devices, though its latest launch serves a different purpose. On October 1, it began selling a limited-edition version of Shark Beauty’s $349 CryoGlow LED face mask, which shoppers wear for a skin treatment. Sephora has yet to announce a U.S. store rollout for a wellness tracker.
For Oura, a spot on Ulta’s shelves serves a purpose beyond selling rings. “We can use it as a way to advertise ourselves and lend ourselves even more credibility,” Jeremiah Linder, Oura’s vp of retail, told Glossy. Younger women are a fast-growing customer group for Oura, he said.
The partnership also opens the door to Ulta’s 47 million loyalty members. Those members can use points they’ve already earned to pay for an Oura ring. A qualifying purchase at the full $399 price earns at least 399 points, worth $11 or more toward a future qualifying purchase.
Ahead of the launch, Ulta and Oura will discuss the partnership on a panel at the Glossy Beauty & Wellness Summit. Oura will also advertise through Ulta’s retail media network, and shoppers will see the ring featured in creator content, on Ulta.com and in the retailer’s app.
Ulta is also expanding associate training to help customers choose a ring size and finish. Beres compared that conversation to helping a shopper select a fragrance, though a question about a sleep reading calls for a different response. “We certainly are not medical experts,” she said. Associates can walk a customer through the store’s sleep assortment, she said, while directing medical questions to a physician.
The displays will give shoppers something that’s harder to get online — Oura’s largest sales channel is currently DTC. “They can see the different colors and what those colors look like against their skin tone,” Linder said. Each display will have a sizing tool, and stores will carry bestselling combinations of sizes and finishes for same-day purchase. If a shopper finds the right fit but wants a finish the store doesn’t carry in that size, an associate can order it for home delivery through Ulta’s Store-to-Door service.
For customers deciding which finger to wear the ring on, Ulta will also sell a take-home kit. “We actually very much encourage people to get a sizing kit,” Linder said. Fingers can swell overnight, he said, and the fit that feels right at the counter can change by morning.
Even before Ulta has sold its first Oura ring, it has already lined up its next wearable.
In March 2027, Whoop will bring two of its trackers to select Ulta stores, along with bands and accessories exclusive to the retailer. For a company that built its reputation on tracking elite athletes’ training and recovery, the draw is customers who already shop there for beauty. “Ulta Beauty gives us an entirely new platform to reach those consumers,” Whoop chief commercial officer Kyle Leahy stated in a partnership announcement on November 3.
