There is a common saying when it comes to sales: Go where the people are.
It seems that’s what Ulta Beauty is doing after its launch on March 17 in the TikTok Shop, becoming the first specialty beauty retailer in the country to launch a platform where browsing and discovering new products is encouraged. Now, if you’ve ever watched a TikTok video and wondered what foundation that person is using, you can pop Ulta into the app and buy it for yourself.
Ulta’s move to the platform comes as retailers are rethinking what is the front door to sales. It also comes as TikTok’s business future in America is in doubt after a landmark deal with the Trump administration.
Behind Ulta’s proposal is as much political as it is commercial. Earlier this month, the Trump administration finalized a deal allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States in exchange for a reported $10 billion fine paid to the US government, according to New York Times. Investors including Oracle, the Emirati investment firm MGX, and Silver Lake (each of which owns 15% of the company) will pay the US government $10 billion for doing business, $2.5 billion of which had already been paid in January. This agreement comes as a solution to years of national security concerns due to the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and has effectively resolved the uncertainty that has existed in TikTok since 2020, giving producers and sellers a clear way to invest in the business of the platform. Ulta announced its expanded TikTok deal just days after the deal was finalized.
Go where the audience is
TikTok isn’t a place where brands are trying to build an audience—it’s where a historically significant audience is already buying. It’s also where new opportunities in the consumer space emerge, including the ability to improve purchasing with AI.
“We’re excited about the opportunities, both AI-enhanced business platforms, to bring our Ulta Beauty experience and variety,” Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman said during the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call. “We will initially launch with a curated assortment of brands-at-Ulta only, which will add another exciting tool to our brand-building portfolio.”
It is uncertain how an AI-enhanced trading platform will perform. However, Ulta’s approach to TikTok is part of a larger appreciation by the beauty retailer who sees “forward how discovery is happening anywhere today — and social platforms are playing a stronger role in how visitors interact with products,” Lauren Brindley, chief marketing and digital officer at Ulta Beauty said. Good luck in a statement.
“Partnering with the TikTok Store is a strategic and complementary extension of our discovery ecosystem,” she added. “It allows us to connect with guests at a time that inspires them, reduce friction between content and commerce, and drive incremental growth by welcoming new Ulta Beauty customers to our community.”
Steelman made similar comments on the earnings call, adding that he meets users where they are. The TikTok Shop is “where visitors can shop instantly while interacting with content from Ulta Beauty and our products on the platform.”
The facts back him up. The TikTok store added more than 103 billion US inquiries for the purpose of e-commerce by 2025, and the total number of sales on the platform rose by almost 80% year-on-year, according to data shared directly from TikTok to. Today’s Consumer. There are now 71.4 million active users on TikTok in the United States alone, an increase of 24.5% from 2024, and 45.5% of all US TikTok users have made at least one social transaction.
The company is expanding its use of AI production, including traditional AI tools and the AI Center of Excellence, to make personalized advertising to its 46 million loyal members. The introduction of the TikTok Store, in that context, is the customer-oriented result of the latest revolution years in the making.
It also comes close to one of Ulta’s recent strong points: $3.9 billion in Q4 2025 sales, a year-over-year gain of 11.8%, with comparable sales up 5.8%. Steelman, who took over the role of CEO in January 2025 after 11 years at the company, explained the transition.
“We had to go back,” he said. “I felt like we lost a little bit of momentum, and I feel like we’re back.”
However, some are wary of praising the collaboration due to fears of what has happened time and time again with isolated users (mostly underage) on social media. Yale Medicine Dr. Kathleen Suozzi, who conducted research on skin care habits and the purchase of children and teenagers due to the influence of social media, asked if “this strategy uses the influence” of a small group, especially given her work while “looking at the behavior patterns of teenagers and young people who are close to skin care.”
“I think this is really aimed at the young and the young in a big way,” Suozzi said good luck, adds that because the entire TikTok Shop takes place within the app, it is very easy for all users, regardless of age, to buy on purpose.
“We see everything that has to do with social media and kids, it’s chasing this idea, this false idea of perfection, this image of what skin should look like, and chasing these ideals of beauty that don’t make sense or are inappropriate,” she added. “This is what it really is.”
Suozzi said how unsophisticated users may not be able to distinguish between sponsored advertising compared to the average user who uses the app without affecting their visibility. This “comparing your skin with these influences with filters and lights, and the pressure to follow a multi-step process-this contributes to increasing concern about your appearance and the use of the forced product. And that’s what this integrated platform will feed even more. You see something, you immediately want it, you buy it.”
A wide bet of beauty on TikTok
Ulta isn’t the only one noticing TikTok’s appeal to the beauty industry. Although it does not have an official store in the TikTok Shop, Sephora has previously collaborated with the platform to open a program of creators that connects products emerging from the Accelerate incubator with content creators.
The launch of Ulta’s TikTok Shop takes that belief a step further, turning discovery into a direct purchase moment rather than a brand-building exercise. TikTok’s Head of Beauty Store, Ajay Salpekar, framed the partnership as a complement rather than a detriment:
“TikTok is where culture, commerce and discovery meet in a seamless way, so it makes sense for marketers and brands to be part of our ecosystem,” Salpekar said. Good luck in a statement. “For Ulta Beauty, the TikTok Store provides the power of discovery, helps reach new customers for exclusive releases and supports the growth and development of new products for sale.”
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