As beauty e-commerce continues to grow — most recently, accounting for 48 percent of U.S. beauty sales year-to-date, per NielsenIQ — the stakes are mounting for beauty’s brick-and-mortar retailers in more ways than one.

A new ChangeUp survey of more than 1,600 beauty shoppers shows that nearly half of consumers think physical retail hasn’t caught up to how quickly beauty trends move, with 69 percent also reporting that beauty product shopping is “overwhelming.”

To that end, said ChangeUp director of strategy Alexa Jewell Schaefer, “what’s working well at retail right now are opportunities for education and discovery — being overly product-heavy and transaction-based is where retailers now are missing the mark.”

According to the survey, Nordstrom is excelling by these measurements, with 52 percent of shoppers saying they “love” the experience of shopping for beauty at the retailer and 35 percent reporting they “enjoy it a lot.”

Last month, the Seattle-based retailer revamped the beauty department at its New York flagship, moving the handbag and jewelry sections in order to merchandise its full beauty assortment, divided into four sections, together on the first floor where customers enter the store.

“It’s entertainment and animation as soon as you enter,” said former executive vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, accessories and home at Nordstrom, Debbi Hartley-Triesch in a WWD interview.

Ulta Beauty takes second place by positive customer sentiment, followed by Sephora which tracks behind by just 2 points in terms of how much consumers “love” shopping at the store. Drug and mass retailers like CVS Pharmacy, Walmart and Walgreens rank last by enjoyment, in that order. Their positions are in part a reflection of increased product lockups in stores, which inhibit discovery and being able to touch and feel products before purchasing. Case in point: a 2024 Kearney survey found “negatively or very negatively” influence consumers’ perception of a store.

Of course, consumer perception is not a 1:1 reflection of sales performance. In fragrance, for instance, Macy’s was the top retailer — across physical and online stores — by sales during the first half of 2025, per YipitData, though it ranked number four by enjoyment in ChangeUp’s survey. Ulta, though, took second place in both first-half fragrance sales and customer delight, with Sephora also ranking third in both assessments.

Overall, beauty shoppers tend toward specialty beauty stores across the board, ChangeUp found, though dupe-focused shoppers demonstrate an increased affinity for drug and mass retailers.

Here, how 10 beauty retailers fare by consumer sentiment, per ChangeUp’s 2025 survey.