Ulta Beauty, the United States’ third-largest beauty retailer by e-commerce sales, is now offering same-day delivery for select markets in partnership with DoorDash. The collaboration, announced by DoorDash on Tuesday, will enable the delivery of Ulta’s more than 25,000 products to customers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Boise, Idaho, with plans to add more cities in 2022.
The partnership will be facilitated through DoorDash Drive, the food delivery company’s white-label fulfillment platform for direct deliveries, and will allow users to get cosmetics, skin care, hair care, fragrances and more in just hours.
Ulta (NASDAQ: ULTA) customers can visit the beauty retailer’s website, add products to their bag, select the “Pickup” option and check for product availability at nearby stores. Then, at checkout, they can add their delivery address and details before selecting the option for same-day delivery. After ordering, customers will receive a text or email order confirmation from Ulta.
“As we enter our busiest time of year, Ulta Beauty could not be more thrilled about our partnership with DoorDash to conveniently deliver the joy of beauty,” said Prama Bhatt, chief digital officer at Ulta. “This partnership represents two leaders coming together to create a new touchpoint for our guests that importantly connects our physical and digital experiences in a relevant, new way.”
Like with other DoorDash Drive partnerships, the collaboration with Ulta will help the beauty retailer meet customer demand through its owned channels. DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) will provide the infrastructure for last-mile fulfillment — it will give Ulta unfettered access to its fleet of Dashers to help the company fulfill online orders.
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In today’s world of rapid-fire commerce, Ulta is just one of thousands of brands offering same-day services. Expert estimates put the proportion of U.S. retailers offering same-day delivery in 2021 somewhere between half and two-thirds. It’s a trend that’s especially easy to see when comparing the graphs of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) free delivery times and U.S. e-commerce market size — they are near-perfect mirror images of each other.
“We see consumers looking for faster and more convenient ways to get their favorite brands delivered same-day,” said Shanna Prevé, vice president of strategic partnerships and business development at DoorDash. “We are thrilled to partner with Ulta Beauty to power their same-day delivery experience and bring the magic of in-store shopping home for customers during the holiday season and throughout the year.”
According to Invesp Conversion Rate Optimization, more than half of shoppers ages 18-34 expect same-day delivery — over 60% of them say they’d pay extra for it. And per the latest same-day delivery market report from Research and Markets, same-day services in the U.S. are projected to balloon at a compound annual growth rate north of 20% over the next five years.
Now, beauty products can be added to a growing list of same-day staples.
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