How do you cap off a stellar 12 months? With a makeover, in fact.

Ulta Beauty, whose sales increased 21 percent in the primary quarter of the 12 months and almost 17 percent within the second, has unveiled a latest store design which significantly shakes up its traditional approach to merchandising.

Somewhat than segmenting brands by price and channel, i.e., prestige, mass and skilled, Ulta’s latest design presents brands in a category by category approach with a format that permits the retailer to more distinctly put forth its own standpoint.

“We at all times need to reimagine and rethink and, most significantly, take a look at what our guests are sharing with us,” said Monica Arnaudo, chief merchandising officer, of the impetus behind the brand new store design. “We would like to assist our guests higher navigate our stores and encourage them along the best way. We desired to bring like categories together — what we call intuitive adjacencies — and create aspiration for our guests after they walk within the door.”

The brand new format is noticeable on the entry, where Ulta is taking a more thematic and fewer promotional or brand-centric approach to merchandising. “We’ve elevated and updated the esthetic. What stories do we would like to inform? What are the themes we would like to discuss?” Arnaudo said. “We’re embracing what the brands are bringing us, but sharing it from an Ulta perspective. It’s more thematic and easier for guests to navigate, and more inspiring.”

As before, the shop is split into two sides, but relatively than be divided into prestige and mass sides, as is currently the case, all sides of the shop will now house different categories.

The primary area guests will encounter is known as Cue the Recent, with three dedicated gondalas where brands which can be launching will probably be featured. The gondola design is flexible and might accommodate a variety of different configurations. “So if we’ve got three big brands launching, it is perhaps three. If there are five, we are able to accommodate that — it could possibly be three makeup and two fragrance brands, for instance,” Arnaudo said.

Directly behind Cue the Recent will probably be skincare, positioned on the left side in most stores. Prestige skincare will probably be furthest to the front, flowing into masstige and derm brands directly behind it, followed by mass skincare. The general amount of space being dedicated to skincare has been increased, too, Arnaudo said.

Bath and body care follows skincare, where the Wellness Wall will also be found. From there, the combo goes to hair tools, hair accessories and hair care.

On the opposite side of the shop, the proper side in most locations, will live makeup. As with skincare, the brands will flow from prestige to masstige to mass, with Ulta’s own brand on a gondola that could be a “segue from prestige to mass,” Arnaudo said.

Ulta’s executives have also rethought the middle of the shop, the “heartbeat,” as Arnaudo called it. Here, there will probably be elevated gondolas for Clinique, Estée Lauder and Lancôme, enabling each to merchandise makeup and skincare together.

Behind those lie MAC and Profit, the so-called service brands, where shoppers can engage in makeovers and brow services, which leads right into a latest area: The Beauty Bar.

“Here, we’ll have the power to do events — they could possibly be branded events or category events. There will probably be quite a lot of activations,” Arnaudo said.

The Beauty Bar leads into Impulse, for travel- and trial-sized products, which then goes into the check-out area, which is positioned behind the shop. Other highlighted sections include Conscious Beauty, for clean brands, in addition to a latest “hero” wall for skincare, where the top-selling or most-loved products from multiple brands will probably be highlighted.

Ulta’s salon, which has been updated with more aspirational visuals, a seating area and highlighted menu, will probably be behind check-out.

Throughout, Ulta has modernized visuals and graphics, and  added high level navigation in order that shoppers can more easily find what they’re searching for. “The consistent feedback we got from guests was that they wanted improved navigation,” Arnaudo said. “We would like our guests to find a way to spend time playing and discovering, not trying to search out where something is. They need it to be easy and intuitive.”

Ulta will open or remodel about 44 stores with the brand new look this 12 months, including in Jacksonville, Florida; Fairfax, Virginia, and Austin, Texas. Recent stores, of which 50 are projected to open next 12 months, in addition to those slated for remodels, will all have the updated layout.

Arnaudo said to this point brand response has been positive. “They love the cohesiveness we’re bringing. They understand that we sell many brands across price points, and that we’d like to assist guests navigate,” she said. “At the identical time, we’re really respectful of our prestige and mass brands and the way we flow it. It’s not a mashup. It’s not a mix-up. It’s very thoughtful within the flow.”