Ulta Beauty Invests in AI Retail Tech Business Adeptmind

Ulta Beauty has made another technology investment — this time, it’s in an artificial intelligence company called Adeptmind.

Ulta unveiled the investment on Tuesday during its investor day. During Ulta’s last investor day in 2018, the company revealed other investments and acquisitions, including QM Scientific and GlamSt, which were then meant to support personalization efforts.

Ulta plans to use Adeptmind’s technology to create a personalized search engine for a new retail concept it is calling the “digital store of the future,” Prama Bhatt, Ulta’s chief digital officer, said during the company’s investor day.

The “digital store of the future” is a rebrand for Ulta’s digital shopping experience meant to make online and mobile shopping easier. “We’ve been focused on growing the online channel, driving loyalty through personalization and delivering on omnichannel experiences,” said Bhatt on Tuesday.

“The new digital store is where we seamlessly merge content with commerce to help guests find what they are looking for, and introduce them to products and services they didn’t know they need,” Bhatt said. “We will have an unmatched source of personalized beauty information and use each opportunity to anticipate their beauty needs. It will make shopping and exploring for beauty online even more fun and functional, and with our new design system, we can create culturally relevant and inspiring content and experiences at the speed of beauty.”