Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan

Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan Executive Summary This project consists of a creative marketing plan that will assist in increasing brand recognition within the beauty community. Ulta Beauty proposes to demonstrate the potential increase in consumers and salon sales. Ulta Beauty’s goal is to continuously gain greater salon and store exposure to consumers that are beauty enthusiast waiting to try something new. Company Analysis Ulta Beauty is one of the major beauty retailers in the United States, they provide beauty products from many beauty brands like Maybelline, Clinique, Loreal, including Ulta Beauty’s own private label. Ulta Beauty also provides beauty services for everyone to enjoy. Ulta Beauty carries mass products and prestige products for those who like to save money and for those who like more expensive products. According to the Ulta Beauty’s overview page, “Ulta was founded in 1990 as a beauty retailer at a time when prestige, mass and salon products were sold through distinct channels – department stores for prestige products, drug stores and mass merchandisers for mass products and salons and authorized retail outlets for professional hair care products”( “Ulta Overview,” 2019). With that being said Ulta developed a unique retail concept that offers a variety of brands, prices, and services. Ulta Beauty provides beauty products in stores and online. In every Ulta Beauty store they offer a full-service salon which provides haircuts, skin treatments, eyebrow waxing, and make-up services. Situational Analysis Ulta Beauty wants to be everyone’s main beauty stop. It all started in 1990 with Terry Hanson and Dick George. According to the website Statista, M. Shahbandeh states, “Ulta had 150 retail locations across California, the highest number of any state.” (Shahbandeh, 2019). Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan With that being said, Ulta will be focusing on reaching consumers that are in the Los Angeles area, mainly because Los Angeles is a big city. The main target of consumers Ulta Beauty is looking for female Models and Makeup Artist that are 18-34 years old, and who is looking for a place that provides every service a woman needs in one place. Ulta Beauty’s main focus is these Models and Makeup Artist who live in the Los Angeles area and women that would like to have one less step in their everyday Makeup routine. Ulta Beauty second target is woman that are mothers and who are 35-55 years old, who look forward to use Ulta Beauty’s services. Most mothers around the age of 35-55 struggle to keep up with self-care and have little to no hair, Ulta Beauty wants to take care of mother’s needs. Ulta is also looking to get woman that use Ulta beauty services on a daily basis and make it every woman go to store. Ulta Beauty’s final target market is men in makeup who are 18-34 years old and who are in the los Angeles area. Over the last few years, men in makeup has grown dramatically and more openly. Also having an audience that have some form of connection with technology are the customers Ulta thrives for. Competitive Analysis Ulta Beauty is one of the biggest beauty retailers however it is not the only one. One of Ulta Beauty’s biggest competitors is Sephora. According to the Ulta Beauty competitive page on the Owler website it states, “Sephora was founded in 1970. Sephora operates in the Retail Distributors industry. Sephora generates $1.1B less revenue.” (Owler, 2018). The Owler website also states, “Sephora's headquarters is in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Pays-de-la-Loire. Sephora has a revenue of $6B, and 15,250 employees. Sephora's main competitors are Ulta, MAC Cosmetics and Cult Beauty. As of August 2019, Sephora has 18.7M fans on Facebook and 2.3M followers on Twitter.” (Owler, 2018). A typical Sephora only carries high end prestige beauty products. Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan Sephora is not only one of Ulta Beauty competitors in the beauty industry. Surprisingly Walgreens is Ulta Beauty’s second biggest competitor. Walgreens is Ulta Beauty’s second biggest competitor. Walgreens is a drugstore that not only carries household items but has a variety of low-priced beauty products. According to the Olwer website, it states that “Walgreens is a Private company. Alex Gourlay is the President of Walgreens. Walgreens headquarters is in Deerfield, Illinois, and was founded in 1901. Walgreens competes in the Drug Retail field. Walgreens generates 1,076% of Ulta’s revenue.” (Owler, 2018). Walgreens not only sells cosmetics but also provide over-the-counter medications, and groceries. Walgreens is considered direct competition to Ulta Beauty due to their vast selection of drug store beauty products. Sephora and Walgreens are not the only competitors of Ulta Beauty. Regis Corporation is Ulta Beauty third competitor. Regis is a beauty salon that provides hair services for men and women. According to the Owler website, it states, “Regis was founded in 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Regis operates in the Personal Services industry. Regis generates $6B less revenue than Ulta.” (Owler, 2018). The Owler website also states, “Regis is a Public company that has $1.84 billion in sales and has 9,650 locations worldwide.” (Owler, 2018). Regis's top competitor is Ulta Beauty. Regis would be considered indirect competition since it provides hair services, but they do not provide beauty products in their salons. S.W.O.T Analysis Strengths that Ulta Beauty have to thrive in the beauty community. Here are some strengths of Ulta Beauty. Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan  According to the mbaskool website it states, “ Ulta Beauty offers unique products and Offers over 450 brands” (“Ulta S.W.O.T Analysis”, 2019)  According to the Ulta Beauty website, “Ulta Beauty has over 45,00 employees and Created 22,000 or more jobs since 2015” (“Our Associate”, 2019).  Ulta has plenty of stores across The United States. Weakness are the areas where Ulta Beauty can improve on. Here are some weaknesses of Ulta Beauty.  Ulta Beauty’s has big competitors.  Ulta does not have international stores or ships internationally.  Ulta is limited to brand awareness as they are not an international company. Opportunities for Ulta beauty are factors that can improve the company. Here are some Opportunities for Ulta Beauty.  Having social media is a big opportunity to reach new audiences and advertise to the right people, which can increase in sales.  Ulta Beauty can expand product line and can add services provided in stores.  Ulta Beauty can open more stores and start opening stores internationally. Threats Ulta Beauty is facing factors that can hurt the company. Here are some threats that Ulta Beauty might be facing.  Consumers might change their preference or style.  There is intense competition between other retailers and up and comping retail stores.  Ulta Beauty might not have a certain brand than many consumers like. Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan Marketing Mix A. Service: Ulta Beauty will be adding a new service to all of the California locations. The new service will consist of microblading. Microblading is a sort of tattooing on the eyebrows for those that have little to no hair. According to the article “ Microblading 101: Everything You Need to Know Before Your Appointment” written by Carly Cardellino, she states, “ Manual microblading is a form of semi-permanent tattooing that involves using tiny, fine-point needles (instead of a tattoo gun) that make up a small disposable blade and handle (think: a very small rat-tail comb-looking tool) that helps scratch and deposit pigment simultaneously under your skin.” (Cardellino, 2019). Microblading also lasts one to three years depending if you go for touch-ups. This will be a great way to bring in new consumers to Ulta Beauty. By adding microblading to the Ulta Beauty services, many women that have little to no eyebrows will not have to worry about finding someone to take care of their needs. Now Ulta Beauty will have it all, any service you can think of. Adding this new service will increase more consumers in store who are looking for a one stop shop. This is how the service would look like. Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan 2 B. Price: Microblading will start off at $350-$1,000 depending on how many touch-ups the consumer needs. C. Place: The main place Ulta Beauty is looking to market the new service is to those in the state of California. By narrowing that down Ulta Beauty will focus on promoting this new service to women in the Los Angeles Area. Ulta Beauty has decided to focus on this area as there are many celebrities and influencers that live in the Los Angeles area. Because of these celebrities and influencers, many consumers would visit Ulta Beauty stores across Los Angeles due to new and upcoming services being offered. Promoting new services with the help of celebrities and influencers helps show the exclusivity of the service and helps promote to a large platform of consumers. D. Promotion: 2 Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan  The first idea that Ulta Beauty has is to have one of the biggest beauty influencers visit one of Ulta Beauty locations in the Los Angeles area and get Ulta Beauty’s new service done for free. After the influencer gets the Microblading done, she will promote it on her Instagram and Youtube channel by showing her whole experience and results. By having an influencer visit one of Ulta Beauty’s Los Angeles location and promote it on their social media, it will encourage many women to visit their local store to try out the new service. The influencer will be a promotional advertisement targeted to their audience provided by Ulta Beauty.  Since Ulta Beauty is adding this new Microblading service, Ulta will be having a promotion for $200 off your first Microblading session. That way all women can enjoy this new service for the first time.  Ulta Beauty will be having a raffle every Friday for one month in all the Ulta Beauty Locations in the Los Angeles area. How the raffle will work is for those who want to participate get the chance to win a Microblading session for free. All they have to do is simply go into a Ulta Beauty store in the Los Angeles area, and purchase any of Ulta Beauty’s products. Once the consumer purchases their products, all they have to do is show an associate their receipt, write down their name and phone number on a ticket and insert it in a jar. Once the consumer has put their name in the jar, they are entered to win a Microblading session for free. At the end of that day, the associates will pick a name and will call the winner. Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan 3 This is an example of what the customer will need in order to enter the raffle. Which is proof of purchase, name, and phone number. Conclusion Ulta Beauty Marketing Plan Ulta Beauty is one of the biggest cosmetics retailers in the U.S. that carries prestige and mass products and also provides beauty services. Ulta Beauty’s main goal is to introduce a new service to Ulta Beauty throughout the Los Angeles area in order to increase sales. The new service Ulta Beauty is providing is Microblading services. Microblading is a semi- permanent tattooing on the eyebrows. The Microblading service will be Ulta Beauty wants to focus on marketing this new service to Makeup Artist, Models, Mothers, and men in makeup. Ulta Beauty wants to make sure that these main consumers hear about the new service before releasing the new service to other Ulta Beauty locations. Ulta Beauty has three new ways to make sure consumers hear about this service. One way to catch our consumers attention is by having an influencer visit a Ulta Beauty store in Los Angeles and try out the new service when the service comes out. The influencer will also promote it on Instagram and Youtube. Ulta Beauty will also be having a promotion of $200 off your first Microblading session. Ulta Beauty will then have a raffle for the consumers. The raffle will take place in all of the Ulta Beauty stores in the Los Angeles area every Friday for one month. If a consumer enters and wins, they will get a Microblading session for free. Those are the three ways Ulta Beauty is planning on to gain customers and sales.