The shop-in-shop partnership between Target and Ulta Beauty was allegedly doomed by rampant theft of the cosmetics company’s pricey products — including at least $10,000 a month at one store.
The retail giants last week announced that they’ve “mutually agreed” to terminate their union — where Ulta’s popular makeup items were sold at 610 Target locations around the country.
Execs from both companies lauded the “synergy” they enjoyed after joining forces in 2021, but many claiming to be current and former Target workers flooded Reddit to allege that shoplifting was the real culprit behind the partnership’s demise.
“The amount of theft is f–king insane. I could be wrong but at least 10k a month in theft,” one purported Target worker in the unnamed store posted on Reddit earlier this year.
The complaint echoed those made by others in the r/Target and r/Ulta threads that blamed brazen bandits for snatching Ulta’s high-end cosmetics at understaffed Target stores.
Organzied retail theft surged after the pandemic, resulting in major retailers, including Target, being forced to put items under lock and key.
Nevertheless, the security precautions seemingly did little to prevent shoplifting at some locations. One Target worker claimed 40% of all Ulta products received throughout the year had vanished after checking inventory reports.
“Thousands of dollars just in that tiny little beauty section,” the alleged employee wrote under the handle Efficient_Raise.
“At my store, it’s the one area with the highest theft.”
Another claimed a group of thieves hauled off $8,000 in Ulta merchandise after walking in with trash bags.
Target and Ulta did not respond to requests for comment about the shoplifting allegations.
They also offered few details behind their decision to pull the plug on the partnership, which will end next August.
A note by analysts at TD Cowen pointed to “shrink” – the industry term for lost or stolen merchandise – as one of the reasons for the “conscious uncoupling,” according to trade publication Retail Dive.
Another industry insider suggested Ulta wanted to distance itself from Target’s toxic reputation after the chain was hit by repeated boycotts over Pride merchandise and its decision to scale back controversial DEI policies, Fortune reported.
The partnership’s unraveling became public in April when Ulta CEO Kecia Steelman revealed the company would “pause” expanding the mini-stores to “leverage the learnings.”
Rick Gomez, Target’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said the retailer is “proud of our shared success” with Ulta.
Target “remains committed to offering the beauty experience consumers have come to expect,” he added.
The retailer launched 2,000 new beauty products and 50 brands in February. It also added cosmetics to its Bullseye’s Playground discount section.
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