Ulta Beauty Is Now Inside ChatGPT. Here’s What Beauty Founders Should Know
Ulta Beauty’s new ChatGPT plugin builds personalized beauty bundles right in the conversation, with 10% off eligible picks, and it is changing how shoppers find the next brand they love.
By Black Beauty Founders Staff
Ulta Beauty is now shoppable inside ChatGPT. The retailer’s new plugin, built around a feature called AI Bundles, lets shoppers describe what they want in plain language and get a personalized set of products from Ulta Beauty’s assortment, with a 10% discount on eligible picks. Here is how it works, who built it and what it means for Black beauty founders.
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How Ulta Beauty’s ChatGPT Plugin Works
Shoppers add the Ulta Beauty plugin in ChatGPT, then share a goal, a concern, an occasion or a budget. A routine for sensitive skin that keeps breaking out. A trending fragrance to gift a friend. A wash day routine for a daughter’s curly hair. ChatGPT asks a few follow-up questions, then builds a bundle of two to five products from Ulta Beauty’s catalog in real time, explaining the order to use them, why they work together and how each one fits the routine.
Shoppers can ask why a product made the cut, swap one out or explore another option. When the bundle feels right, it moves to their Ulta Beauty bag on the website or app for the usual checkout, and Ulta Beauty Rewards points still apply.
The incentive is real. Full-price eligible products in an AI Bundle get 10% off when the shopper buys at least two and no more than five of the recommended items. The bundle discount does not combine with other Ulta Beauty offers.
The Founder Behind the Build
The experience was led by Agustina Sartori, Ulta Beauty’s head of agentic commerce, and she knows the founder side of beauty tech firsthand. Sartori founded GlamST, an augmented reality virtual try-on company that Ulta Beauty acquired in 2018, and has spent the years since building new ways for guests to discover and shop beauty.
“What excites me most is that this is about shaping where AI moves beyond helping consumers discover products to actively helping them find solutions, build routines, and shop in ways that are uniquely personal to them,” Sartori said in announcing the launch, crediting Ulta Beauty’s cross-functional team with envisioning, building and bringing the experience to life.
Why This Is a Big Moment for Beauty
Ulta Beauty is not only showing up in AI shopping. It is rewarding guests for using it. Analysts at EMARKETER note that Ulta Beauty is one of the few retailers offering a discount to shop through a third-party AI platform, while other retailers in ChatGPT have focused mainly on being available there.
The plugin is part of a bigger plan. In April, Ulta Beauty began rolling out agentic shopping in Google’s AI Mode and the Gemini app, alongside its own Ulta AI assistant on Ulta.com. We broke down Google’s side of AI shopping in our look at Google’s Universal Cart, and the ChatGPT launch builds on the social commerce push we covered when Ulta Beauty entered the TikTok Shop era.
Adoption is still early. An August Bizrate Insights and EMARKETER survey found that just 5.6% of digital shoppers use AI platforms to shop regularly. For founders, early is the advantage. The brands that get ready now are the ones these tools will know best when the habit takes hold.
Our Take for Beauty Founders
For the more than 3,000 founders across our Black Beauty Founders private ecosystem, and the more than 400,000 beauty consumers we reach, this is a new kind of shelf. Here is where we would start.
Think in routines. AI Bundles are built around two to five products that work together. A brand with a clear regimen, from cleanser to moisturizer or shampoo to edge control, gives a bundle a natural fit.
Write for the way she asks. Shoppers are describing real needs, like curly hair, sensitive skin or a $100 budget. Product details that name hair type, skin type, concern and results make it easier for a recommendation to land on your product.
Keep the reviews coming. Star ratings travel with each product in the bundle, right there in the chat. A steady flow of honest reviews helps your product hold its own next to the biggest names.
Make the most of your Ulta Beauty page. Ulta Beauty says bundles are built from its catalog using its beauty expertise and product knowledge. For founders already on Ulta Beauty shelves, complete and accurate product information on Ulta.com is the foundation.
Not at Ulta Beauty yet? The same habits get you ready for AI shopping everywhere, from Google to ChatGPT. Clear product data, routine-friendly collections and strong reviews travel with you.
Ulta Beauty wants beauty shopping to feel more personal, intuitive and rewarding. The founders who prepare now will be the ones these assistants recommend. Black Beauty Founders will keep walking founders through AI shopping in the months ahead.
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