Ulta Beauty is one of the leading retailers in the hair and beauty industry, and the choices they make send a signal as to where the industry is heading with innovations, trends and more. This year, the brand is changing up the way they market their seasonal or holiday offerings by engaging shoppers through Roblox, a popular immersive gaming platform.
The brand is engaging holiday shoppers through a variety of campaigns spanning multiple forms of media — including metaverse gaming — with several partners. In addition, the retailer’s UBMedia retail media network is running its first-ever Roblox campaign.
As part of the strategy, through Tuesday Dec. 31, 2024, Ulta is offering holiday-themed adventures, called "House of Joy," on the Roblox metaverse gaming environment. Featured brands in the promotion include Bubble, Too Faced and Juice Beauty. Participating consumers complete tasks and mini-games to earn exclusive virtual avatar prizes.
"The 'Ultaverse' is where beauty and creativity come together in a truly immersive way," Agustina Sartori, senior director of innovation experiences at Ulta Beauty and managing director of Prisma Ventures, Ulta's digital innovation funds, says. "Gaming is a natural space for beauty because it’s all about self-expression, and the 'Ultaverse' allows us to reimagine how consumers experience beauty. As we continue to grow our presence in gaming, we’re excited to explore new ways to connect our customers with the brands they love, blending the best of physical and digital beauty experiences."
What is driving the strategy to market beauty on digital gaming platforms?
Beauty brands want to be where the eyes are, and Roblox users are highly engaged. Daily active users spend an average of 2.4 hours per day on the platform. In 2023, that netted out to more than 16 billion total hours spent by users engaged on the platform.
Roblox is also proving to be profitable. The average daily user spent $11.96 in Q3 of 2023. While this may not seem like much, with millions of daily active users, the money adds up. The brand also has its own currency called Robux. More than $2.39 billion in Robux was purchased last year (before Q4) alone.
Demographics could also play a role in Ulta marketing their services on digital gaming platforms. The younger generations are defining industry trends and growing increasingly involved in the industry, so it makes sense to reach them where they are at. Of the 70.2 million daily active users and 300 million monthly active users on Roblox, a whopping 60 percent are under 16. Roblox is most popular with younger generations. In fact, 42.3 percent of users are under 13 years. In 2023, the 17-24 group was the fastest growing Roblox demographic with a 35 percent increase year over year.
What does this mean for you as a beauty professional?
As a hair professional, your expertise is incredibly valuable in shaping your clients' retail behavior. They trust your recommendations for products and services based on your understanding of their hair color, length, texture, porosity, etc. and its needs to maintain its health and vibrancy. This offers an opportunity for you to service your clients directly and bring much-deserved retail revenue into your pocket.
If you are going to be offering retail to your client — and there's been a movement to bring retail back to the salons — it's important to understand how and where to best engage them. Does this mean you need to create a Roblox account? Not necessarily. Take time to chat with your clients and determine what are the best ways to reach them and how that aligns with the platforms you already have. Depending on your findings, you may want to shift what platforms you are on and which ones you prioritize the most.
