topic Ulta planning an expansion into Canada in Beauty

Ulta planning an expansion into Canada

TY — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 00:46:57 GMT

Ulta is planning an expansion into Canada. From Retail Dive:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/ulta-goes-international-with-plans-for-canada/555930/

Personally I wasn't impressed with Ulta when I visited the Las Vegas Town Square store nearly 2 years ago in September 2017. Not only were their prices for drugstore makeup higher than drugstores like Walgreens and CVS on the strip but I didn't see any bargains in their higher end products and at the time they were having daily deals and the colors of the lipstick that was the daily special was picked over.

I can walk to 4 different Sephora stores on the strip and walk to the Fashion Show mall that has a bunch of department stores too. Why would I want to Uber or Lyft it down to a strip mall that only has 2 stores that I would visit (Ulta and Saks off 5th) when I could Uber it down to the South Premium outlet mall nearby that has all the shoe outlet stores I really want to go to?

There is an Ulta store in Bellingham, Washington at the Bellis Fair mall and I've never bothered to visit it. If I'm in Bellingham I'm visiting other stores and skipping that mall.

Also Canadians don't get to earn points and rewards on purchases made online in the U.S. and shipped to Canada. I only use the Ulta website to look at ingredient decks.

Canadian retailers that would be Ulta's competitors like Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs aren't about to roll over and play dead for Ulta either. Both have loyalty programs already in place. Given the high real estate prices in Canada and high rents, I think Ulta will have a hard time setting up in Canada.

Re: Ulta planning an expansion into Canada

jackthebear — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 10:44:41 GMT

would never buy drugstore stuff at Ulta, and their shelves are never stocked well

Re: Ulta planning an expansion into Canada

Shanus — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 12:41:56 GMT

I’m not familiar w/ Canadian ULTA and point systems they’ll employ, but I like the dollars for points earned compared to Sephora’s system.

I used to puchase a lot from Sephora and was VIBROUGE. Then dwindled down to VIB. Getting to checkout w/ a choice of dinky “gifts” to use my points? No, rather have dollars to redeem.

With the the amount of makeup I purchase (mostly for pro kit), I look for the best deals.

Re: Ulta planning an expansion into Canada

jackthebear — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:27:33 GMT

@Shanus wrote:
I’m not familiar w/ Canadian ULTA and point systems they’ll employ, but I like the dollars for points earned compared to Sephora’s system.

I used to puchase a lot from Sephora and was VIBROUGE. Then dwindled down to VIB. Getting to checkout w/ a choice of dinky “gifts” to use my points? No, rather have dollars to redeem.

With the the amount of makeup I purchase (mostly for pro kit), I look for the best deals.

I don't buy much there either I have a Bloomies acct that gives me actual $$ to spend and will buy beauty stuff that I like. so the Sephora gifts are less than appealing I have a few 100 x 3 points just sitting. they would do better with a points for $ I think