The Ulta Beauty Divided
Walking into Ulta, I always find myself making the impossible decision; save money and shop on the cheap side, or break the bank to blend in. - shockingly, I always end up leaving with a little orange bag of overpriced products. When looking at Ulta's consumer psychology, the side of the store where the products have a higher price tag, yields to a more luxurious experience. Ulta Beauty carries both high end, and low end cosmetics, fragrances, body products, nail, and haircare. Although Ulta has two very separated sides when walking in, one for high end beauty, and one for budget beauty, the urge to shop high end is not something their marketing team seems to be ignoring.
Something I've noticed, within Ulta, and even Sephora, is every brand is just making knock offs of other products. When something new is finally released by some “creative” brand, the internet goes crazy for it, selling it out until we either get bored and move on, or another brand makes a “dupe”. A great example of this would be the Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Drops. I remember walking into Ulta, in December of 2023, moms were running around panicking over a sold out, bottle of brown lotion. Looking back on this, it seems absolutely ridiculous, as almost every brand is selling the exact same thing in different bottles, and at different price points. The Key Largo Glow Bronzing Drops by Tarte Cosmetics, are being sold for a fraction of the price. L'oreal Paris Lumi Glotion, being sold for only $13, but the exact same concept, and extremely similar formula. All these cosmetic products are being sold in different areas of the store, making it difficult to compare prices when selecting what product you buy.
Elf Cosmetics is a commonly favorite brand that has raving reviews. Elf is located on the “cheap” side of Ulta. They are known for making knockoffs of other brands, in hopes to reobtain their prominent title in the beauty world (it seems to be working). As a brand, it doesn't seem like they are trying to hide this strategy either. They make an almost identical product, use extremely similar packaging, and name it something that alludes to the idea of the “original” product.
According to a 2012 study, in Psychological Science, people tend to buy counterfeit, or “dupes” to enhance their image. It also has the unintended consequences of making us feel like something we are not. It makes me wonder if Ulta separating their High End products, from their affordable, oftentimes Dupes, is to make impressionable young people think they need to buy the “original” for the best results. There are only so many products that can be sold in the beauty world before brands run out of ideas, and cycle back through, being inspired by past products, and brands.
I personally am going to make an effort to shop with more intent behind my purchases, and put more thought into if the high price tag is for the product, or if it's for the brand name on the packaging.
