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62 November 2015 | beautystorebusiness.com News ULTA BEAUTY'S LOYALTY PROGRAM PASSES THE 16 -MILLION MARK ULTA Beauty's Ultamate Rewards loyalty program now has "16.1 million active members" and "drives well over 80%" of the national beauty retailer's sales, CEO Mary Dillon told analysts during her opening remarks in the public company's second quarter 2015 earnings conference call Aug. 27. The number of ULTA's Ultamate Rewards members is up 18% over the prior 12-month period, according to Dillon. "Our store associates are doing a fantastic job converting guests to loyalty members and they achieved a significant increase in conversion, leading to an acceleration in new-members growth," stated Dillon. "Members-retention rate increased, and we continue to see higher frequency of purchases, higher average ticket and higher aver- age sales per member. "In the second quarter," added Dillon, "our Platinum members—our guests who spend more than $400 with ULTA Beauty during the year—received many perks, including Platinum-only beauty steals, Platinum bonus-points offers, early access to new products, a Platinum social contest, free-shipping offers and targeted surprise and delight gifts." In other news from the conference call with analysts, Dillon said that ULTA plans to roll out national-TV advertising to support its 21 Days of Beauty! event in September as well for the upcoming holiday season. "This national television-advertising campaign marks the first in ULTA Beauty's history—an important step towards driving a strong and sustainable brand position, while increasing awareness among beauty enthusiasts and driving new-guest acquisitions," noted Dillon. Also, Dillon shared that ULTA opened 20 stores during the second quarter—ending it with 817 stores. The company plans to open 44 stores in the third quarter and 15 stores in the fourth quarter. Earnings-call transcript by SeekingAlpha.com used Photos by Marc Birenbaum, Beauty Store Business TUBEMOGUL PARTNERS WITH L'ORÉAL USA TubeMogul has been selected as one of L'Oréal USA's preferred partners specifically for video advertising in the United States. L'Oréal USA will utilize Tube- Mogul's automated software platform to plan, buy, measure and optimize its U.S. video advertising. "L'Oréal USA's digital-media approach relies on our ability to create engaging brand experiences at every consumer touchpoint," says Nadine Karp McHugh, senior vice president, omni media, strate- gic investments and creative solutions, L'Oréal USA. "TubeMogul's best-in-class software enables us to reach our customers with personalized content wherever they are to build loyalty for our portfolio of leading beauty brands, and ultimately optimize our media investments." The first campaigns executed through Tube- Mogul's software across desktop and mobile video launched earlier this year. TARGET ACQUIRES SONIA KASHUK BRAND Target assumed full owner- ship of the award-winning Sonia Kashuk brand—which was introduced exclusively at Target in 1999—earlier this fall. Kashuk, one of Target's first design partners, will continue to play a key cre- ative role with a focus on the design and development of the line—and will continue to be in the role for now at least through early 2017. Currently, Target is in the process of expanding the brand's product design and development team to include beauty experts—a first for Target. To that end, Target plans to hire a lead beauty designer. (See "Lead Designer—Beauty" posted Sept. 9 at Target's online career listings.) Over the years Target and Kashuk have worked hand in hand to bring customers thousands of beauty products, including cosmetics, accessories and tools. Target carries more than 300 products in stores and online, ranging in price from $1.99 to $39.99. More recently, Sonia Kashuk's limited-edition collections of cosmetics, brushes, bags and more have been extremely popular. Images courtesy of Target Corp. BEAUTY COLLECTION OPENS MANHATTAN BEACH SITE Beauty Collection—the Southern California prestige beauty store chain—offi cially opened its new Manhattan Beach, California, brick and mortar Sept. 26 with a grand opening. The fi rst 200 customers with any purchase received a free beauty bag of skincare, makeup and haircare brands valued at more than $600. There were also beauty consultations, beauty recommendations with experts and refreshments. Beauty Store Business was at a store press preview Sept. 25 that included a tour by store manager Kimberlee Aiello. Sonia Kashuk