BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — Monica Arnaudo has been chief merchandising officer at Ulta Beauty since December 2019, having previously served as senior vice president of merchandising since joining the beauty retailer in October 2017. 

Arnaudo brought a wealth of experience in the beauty industry, including sales, merchandising and business development roles at such retailers as Sephora and Nordstrom and brands including Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, Shu Uemura and Bare Escentuals. At Ulta Beauty, Arnaudo has played a key role in driving stellar results and expanding engagement with the chain’s ­customers.

Last year, for example, Ulta Beauty broke the $10 billion sales barrier for the first time, posting an 18.3% leap in revenues to $10.21 billion, while net profit soared 26% to a record $1.24 billion. Comparable sales for the fiscal year (ended January 29, 2023) surged 15.6%, as customer traffic expanded 10.8% and the average transaction grew 4.3%.

Store development also contributed to the top-line performance, as Ulta Beauty opened 47 stores, relocated 12 and remodeled 20 locations to finish the year with 1,355 stores in 50 states. The company employs a store location strategy that allows it to reach a wide range of demographics, which in turn encourages a variety of product assortments keyed to different customer preferences.

The remodeled units feature a new design and layout. The layout was developed based on data from the retailer’s Ultamate Rewards loyalty members as well as customer and brand partner feedback. Ulta Beauty offers more than 600 brands, and Arnaudo and her team worked with each brand in developing the new layout to ensure that the design goals would be achieved. 

In an interview with Forbes, Arnaudo noted that the chain’s customers love to explore and discover products and services throughout the store. “We improved the overall navigation of the store and elevated the hierarchy of product categories to make discovery fun and easier to navigate,” she explained.

The new layout also creates adjacencies that generate natural synergies, such as locating skin care next to body and bath. Wellness products are also placed near bath and body. 

Additionally, the front of the store now provides immediate excitement with feature assortments based on companywide marketing themes but tailored to reflect local market preferences. This approach, which the company refers to as “beautytainment,” allows Arnaudo’s merchants and their brand partners to create energy around the store entrance by staging events that may highlight key trends or new product launches.

Another change in layout re-
sulted in skin care being moved closer to the front of the store and being allocated more space. As a result, skin care, including both prestige and mass, led all other categories and turned in a double-digit increase in sales during last year’s fourth quarter.

Every location now incorporates a full-service beauty salon behind the beauty bar, and the retailer recently introduced a number of new salon services, such as curl-specific treatments and extensions.

“Our guests look to Ulta Beauty for inspiration and newness, so it is our responsibility to showcase what we are seeing and provide guests the ability to experience what’s new, what’s trending and what we are most excited about,” Arnaudo told Forbes.

“Based on the survey of our rewards members, this is what they want from us.”