Getting Into Ulta Beauty
What it takes to get a beauty brand into Ulta, how the buying process works, the margins, and the Sparked and MUSE programs built for new founders.
Ulta Beauty is the largest beauty retailer in the United States, with more than 1,400 stores across all 50 states and roughly 25,000 products from over 600 brands under one roof. Unlike Sephora, which is mainly prestige, Ulta carries drugstore, prestige, and salon brands in the same aisle, which makes it both a bigger mainstream stage and a more realistic first retail home for a growing brand.
The single reason most founders want Ulta is its loyalty program. Ulta Beauty Rewards (formerly Ultamate Rewards) has around 44 million members and drives the overwhelming majority of the company’s sales. Getting onto Ulta’s shelves means getting in front of the most engaged beauty-buying audience in the country.
Ulta is also more approachable than Sephora for a newer brand, in part because it has built formal on-ramps, Sparked and the MUSE Accelerator, specifically to bring in emerging and underrepresented founders.
At a glance:
| Stores | 1,400+ (all 50 US states) |
| Products / brands | ~25,000 products, 600+ brands |
| Ownership | Public (Nasdaq: ULTA), founded 1990 |
| Loyalty program | ~44 million members |
| Positioning | Mass, prestige, and salon under one roof |
| How Ulta buys | Keystone (~50% of retail), plus trade spend |
| On-ramps for new brands | Sparked platform, MUSE Accelerator |
How the Process Actually Works
Ulta does have a public product-submission platform (covered in the step-by-step below), but submitting is no guarantee of placement. Placement happens through a few routes, and the newer ones are what make Ulta more accessible than Sephora.
1. A category buyer decides. Every product area at Ulta has a buyer responsible for its assortment. Getting in means getting in front of the right buyer, whether through a direct relationship, a retail broker who already places brands at Ulta, or one of Ulta’s brand programs below.
2. Ulta’s emerging-brand programs are a real front door. Sparked is Ulta’s launch platform for up-and-coming and DTC brands, and the MUSE Accelerator is a structured program for early-stage founders from underrepresented communities. Both put brands in front of Ulta directly rather than hoping a cold pitch lands.
3. You prove demand and readiness. Ulta wants evidence that customers already want your product: existing DTC sales, a social following, press, or a viral moment. It also wants to know you can produce at retail scale with consistent quality, which usually means a reliable contract manufacturer is already in place.
4. You negotiate terms. Ulta buys at keystone, roughly 50% of the retail price, and brands are typically expected to fund trade spend and in-store or digital marketing support on top of that. Your margins have to absorb all of it and still leave a profit.
5. You launch, often in a subset of stores or online. New brands rarely start in all 1,400+ locations. A common path is online plus a limited set of stores, expanding if the product sells through.
How to Actually Get In, Step by Step
There is no guarantee, but there is a real path, and it starts before you ever contact a buyer.
Step 1: Get retail-ready before you pitch anyone. A buyer can tell in minutes whether a brand is ready. Have these in hand first:
- A line sheet: every product with wholesale and retail prices, minimum order quantities, and case packs, on one clean document.
- A sell sheet: a one-page pitch for a single hero product, with the story, the proof (sales, ratings, press), and the gap it fills.
- Samples plus retail-ready packaging with barcodes and compliant ingredient labeling.
- Your sales data: direct-to-consumer revenue, repeat-purchase rate, reviews, and any viral moment.
- Margins that survive trade spend, worked out in advance, so you can say yes to a deal without losing money.
Step 2: Submit through RangeMe, Ulta’s official front door. Ulta discovers new products through RangeMe, a supplier platform. From Ulta’s own product submission page, you create a RangeMe product profile, it is matched to the right category buyer, and you are notified if a buyer reviews it. Ulta states plainly that submitting carries no obligation to review, so treat it as necessary but not sufficient: it is the legitimate way in, not a golden ticket.
Step 3: Consider Ulta Beauty Marketplace for a lower-risk online start. Ulta runs an invitation-only online marketplace on a dropship model, meaning you ship orders as they come rather than fronting a large purchase order. Brands upload a proposed assortment that Ulta’s marketplace team reviews against its standards. For a capital-light brand, this is a way to start selling through Ulta’s traffic and prove demand before pursuing shelf space.
Step 4: Apply to a program if you qualify. If you are an early-stage founder from an underrepresented community, the MUSE Accelerator is a direct, structured path in, plus $50,000 in support. Emerging and DTC brands can also earn a spot on Sparked. These are the most founder-friendly routes Ulta offers.
Step 5: Build buyer relationships directly. Beyond the platforms, brands get in through people. A retail broker who already places brands at Ulta can shortcut the buyer introduction, usually for a percentage of wholesale. Trade shows are where buyers scout in person, and Cosmoprof North America is the major one for beauty. A warm introduction to the right category buyer, from a broker, a distributor, or another founder, still beats a cold submission.
A realistic sequence: get retail-ready, build proof selling direct, submit on RangeMe and test on the Marketplace if invited, apply to MUSE or aim for Sparked if eligible, and work brokers and trade shows in parallel. From first submission to shelves is commonly a year or more, so start the relationships before you think you need them.
What Ulta Looks For
A gap in the assortment. Ulta does not need another of what it already sells well. It needs brands that reach a customer or a price point its current lineup does not.
Proven demand. Existing DTC sales, an engaged social following, and press are the evidence Ulta uses to predict whether a brand will sell on its shelves. Ulta wants brands that already have pull, not brands that need Ulta to create it. e.l.f. Cosmetics, one of Ulta’s biggest mass success stories, arrived with exactly that kind of demand.
Production capacity. Can you reliably fill large wholesale orders without a stockout or a quality slip? This is where many small brands are not ready.
Retail-ready packaging. Products need barcodes, batch codes, compliant ingredient labeling, and packaging that holds up on a busy Ulta shelf.
Marketing investment. Ulta expects brands to help drive customers to the product through social, influencer partnerships, and co-op marketing. Placement is the start, not the finish.
The Economics
Ulta’s margin structure is the standard beauty-retail model, the same keystone math as Sephora:
| Example | |
|---|---|
| Your product retails for | $30 |
| Ulta buys at keystone (~50%) | You receive ~$15 |
| Your cost to manufacture | $4-$8 (typical beauty COGS) |
| Gross profit before trade spend | $7-$11 |
| Then subtract | Trade spend, co-op marketing, freight |
| Effective contribution | Often lands near 25-30% of retail |
The trade-off is the same as any large retailer: far lower margin per unit than selling on your own site, in exchange for far more volume and exposure to Ulta’s 44-million-member audience. Ulta works when that volume more than makes up for the margin compression. Selling direct keeps 70-85% of the retail price but reaches only the audience you can drive yourself.
Ulta’s Programs for New Brands
Ulta has built formal paths that make it more open to newer founders than most prestige retailers.
Sparked at Ulta Beauty is a launch platform for emerging and DTC-native brands. It rotates up-and-coming brands online and in a selection of stores, giving newer names a real Ulta placement and visibility without needing a full national rollout.
The MUSE Accelerator is Ulta’s retail-readiness program for early-stage founders from underrepresented communities. Each cohort supports eight founders through a multi-week curriculum, and every accepted brand receives $50,000 in financial support plus resources to prepare for retail. Ulta and its partner the Fifteen Percent Pledge also select one cohort member for additional support.
Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty is not an entry program but a values framework worth knowing. It flags products across pillars like clean ingredients, cruelty-free, vegan, sustainable packaging, and positive impact. For a values-driven brand, qualifying is a way to be highlighted to shoppers who filter for exactly those attributes.
Ulta vs Sephora
Both are keystone buyers with high standards, but they serve different strategies:
| Ulta Beauty | Sephora | |
|---|---|---|
| Assortment | Mass, prestige, and salon | Mainly prestige |
| Footprint | 1,400+ US stores | 2,700+ stores, ~35 countries |
| Reach | Broad mainstream US | Global, prestige-focused |
| Owner | Public (Nasdaq: ULTA) | LVMH |
| On-ramps for new brands | Sparked, MUSE Accelerator | Sephora Accelerate |
For many growing brands, Ulta is the more realistic first major-retail step because it spans price points and has built-in emerging-brand programs. Sephora tends to come later, once a brand has the prestige positioning and demand to justify it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get a brand into Ulta Beauty?
Placement happens through an Ulta category buyer, reached via a direct relationship, a retail broker, or one of Ulta’s brand programs. Ulta’s Sparked platform and MUSE Accelerator are built specifically to bring in emerging and underrepresented-founder brands, which makes them the most structured way in for a newer brand. Buyers look for proven demand and the ability to produce at retail scale.
How much of the price does Ulta take?
Ulta buys at keystone, roughly 50% of the retail price, so on a $30 product you receive about $15 at wholesale. Brands are then typically expected to fund trade spend and co-op marketing, which lowers the effective take, often toward 25 to 30% of retail.
Is it easier to get into Ulta or Sephora?
Ulta is generally more approachable for a newer or mass-oriented brand, because it carries drugstore through prestige and runs formal emerging-brand programs (Sparked and the MUSE Accelerator). Sephora is prestige-only and usually comes later, once a brand has the demand and positioning to support it.
What is the MUSE Accelerator?
The MUSE Accelerator is Ulta Beauty’s retail-readiness program for early-stage founders from underrepresented communities. Each cohort supports eight founders, and every accepted brand receives $50,000 in financial support plus resources to prepare for retail.
What is Sparked at Ulta Beauty?
Sparked is Ulta’s launch platform for emerging and direct-to-consumer beauty brands. It rotates up-and-coming brands online and in select stores, giving newer names visibility and a real Ulta placement without a full national rollout.
How do I submit my product to Ulta Beauty?
Ulta discovers new products through RangeMe. From Ulta’s product submission page you create a RangeMe profile, which is matched to the relevant category buyer, who decides whether to review it. Submitting does not guarantee a review, but it is the official route in, alongside Ulta’s programs and direct buyer relationships.
What is Ulta Beauty Marketplace?
It is Ulta’s invitation-only online marketplace, run on a dropship model so brands ship orders as they come instead of fronting a large purchase order. Brands upload a proposed assortment that Ulta’s marketplace team reviews. It is a lower-capital way for emerging brands to sell through Ulta’s traffic and prove demand.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Ulta Beauty”. Store count (1,445 in 2025), history, public ownership, and product and brand figures.
- Glossy, “Inside Ulta’s 44-million-member loyalty program”. Loyalty membership size and its share of sales, and the Ultamate Rewards rebrand.
- Ulta Beauty, “Merchandising Product Submissions”. Ulta’s official submission process through RangeMe, and how products reach category buyers.
- Ulta Beauty, “Marketplace”. The invitation-only, dropship online marketplace and its assortment review.
- RangeMe. The supplier discovery platform Ulta uses to source new products.
- Cosmoprof North America. The major North American beauty trade show where retail buyers scout brands.
- Ulta Beauty, “MUSE Accelerator”. Program structure, cohort size, and the $50,000 in financial support per brand.
- Ulta Beauty, “2025 MUSE Accelerator Cohort”. Cohort details and the Fifteen Percent Pledge partnership.
- Ulta Beauty, “Sparked”. Ulta’s emerging and DTC brand launch platform.
- Ulta Beauty, “Conscious Beauty”. The values pillars used to highlight qualifying products.
- Eightx, “Retail vs DTC Margins for Beauty: The Sephora/Ulta Math”. Keystone (50%) wholesale pricing and the drop to a 25-30% contribution after trade spend.