Following the success of The Wellness Shop, now almost 5 years old, Ulta is doubling down on the category by significantly expanding its shelf space. Over the next month, about a third of Ulta’s overall fleet will see their wellness offerings increase from 4-to-8 feet to 30-to-45 feet.

With this, the retailer is adding to its assortment a slew of brands, including Armra, Cure Hydration, Therabody, Saje Natural Wellness, Scarlet by Red Drop, Nodpod, Nutrafol, Hum Nutrition, Mary Ruth’s, Bloom Nutrition, Hatch Mama, Guru Nanda, Ritual, Revive Collagen, Vital Proteins, Garden of Life, Nature’s Bounty and more. Current bestsellers include Lemme and Love Wellness.

But that’s not all: Ulta has rolled out front-of-store displays in select doors to further amplify its growing wellness assortment and added a new category to its lineup — aromatherapy, which will be led by Sage Natural Wellness, an exclusive to the retailer.

“Wellness marked this fundamental cultural shift,” said vice president of wellness Laura Beres, noting that nearly every category continues to grow. “The growth we’ve had has been pretty fast since COVID, but going forward, we’re looking to potentially pick up the pace even more.

“This is rooted in the feedback we’ve been getting from our guests,” she added, “the demand for more wellness products, our desire to continue to expand as a leader in retail, in the space and to continue to meet the needs of our guests who we know are shopping across all of these categories.”

In 2021, Ulta Beauty launched The Wellness Shop, which included intimate solutions, supplements and feminine care, in 460 stores. It quickly expanded to nearly all doors, mirroring growing consumer interest in these categories. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the category is expected to reach $9 trillion globally by 2028. Ulta’s own data reveals that 72 percent of its shoppers are prioritizing wellness.

“We have a great advantage in listening to our 44 million [loyalty club] members. We’ve been able to see how they shop and behave and [track] this intersection of beauty and wellness, this blur,” Beres said. “We know how important it is that to show up as your best self on the outside, you need to take care of your inner self, too…. Having the intersection of beauty and wellness where guests can come and discover and shop in one place has been a differentiator for us.”

Through the expansion, Ulta Beauty is focused on six core areas: Relax & Renew, Health From Within (renamed from Supplements to reflect the larger ingestible wellness category), Aromatherapy, Feminine Care, Everyday Care and Intimate Wellness. Specifically, Aromatherapy is a new addition to Ulta Beauty’s lineup and was informed by current consumer trends.

“The functional fragrance movement is really interesting, and it’s science backed now. Aromatherapy can help with symptoms related to stress and mood support,” said Beres. “It is an acknowledgement of where the market’s moved, but where consumers have moved as well… It’s a great category for the little luxuries that people look for who may not have a lot of time to dedicate to going to a spa for a massage every week.”

Based on consumer data, Ulta is doubling down on two other areas: nutrition and fitness, which Beres said “are two of the more mature categories.”

In the way of nutrition it is bringing on new brands like gut health- and immune-boosting supplement Armra and hair and skin health nutraceutical Nutrafol. Within fitness, Therabody will also be joining the assortment with its post-activity recovery devices, as well as Cure Hydration with its electrolyte powders. Therabody will also feed into the growing demand for beauty tech with devices like the Depuffing Wand.

With nutrition, as supplement sales continue to soar, Ulta Beauty is adjusting its approach, organizing the assortment by need state — think sleep or gut health, two of the top concerns of customers.

“From an organizational navigation standpoint, it is easier for our associates to help educate our guests,” said Beres, noting that even more than beauty, guests shop for wellness by identifying a specific concern.

Women’s health has become more important than ever for the retailer, so the focus is on the concept of all ages and stages from period care to menopause solutions. Ulta’s assortment ranges from period care with brands like Rael and The Honey Pot Co. to fertility offerings with brands like Bird & Be and Ritual to perimenopause and menopause solutions with brands like Womaness and Joylux. To further amplify this segment, Ulta Beauty will launch kits for periods and menopause.

“It is a part of our strategy in how we introduce new brands to our guests,” Beres said. “A kit is such a powerful format to be able to, as a consumer, try what works for you in a way that you’re not necessarily breaking the bank.”

While Ulta Beauty is expanding in a variety of areas this year, Beres said the team is always learning and therefore, The Wellness Shop will continue to evolve.

“We’re going to learn through this moment, and we’re going to see how it performs, and we’ll take it from there,” said Beres, emphasizing that “wellness is a massive market opportunity… We feel like there’s a lot of room still to grow.”