Ulta Beauty Vs. Sephora: Which Beauty Giant Will Recover Faster, Post-Pandemic?

Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA ended 2020 with signs of momentum and the beauty retailer showed continued improvements in 2021, according to foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai.

What Happened: Ulta's foot traffic was down as much as 95.2% last April amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has steadily improved since then, according to a Placer.ai report.

December's traffic decline of 6.9% marked its best performance since the start of the pandemic. The momentum continued into 2021 with January's foot traffic down 5.5% year-over-year.

Ulta continues to offer customers value even if work-at-home trends continue indefinitely, Placer.ai noted. People can still get away with pajama bottoms, but "our face continues to take center stage" during video conferences.

Rival beauty retailer Sephora, owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA LVMUY also saw its foot traffic plunge 96.9% in April, but October's 24% foot traffic decline marked its best performance since the pandemic. Sephora ended 2020 with a 31.3% foot traffic decline and January trends slightly worsened to down 33.2%.

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Why It's Important: Sephora has heavy exposure to the mall so it is logical the chain wants to diversify its presence to freestanding locations. Sephora is also leveraging its stores to offer consumers buy-online-pick-up-in-store options.

"This type of innovative approach to offline retail will help ensure that the expansion value is fully realized," Placer.ai wrote.

What's Next: Ulta may be leading the beauty space as more regions continue to re-open, but Sephora is taking big steps to diversify and expand its footprint.

(Photo by Park Street on Unsplash)