Curated by Target’s beauty team, the assortment, which includes over 3,000 new SKUs across 60-plus brands, will be paired alongside a refreshed store design experience and in-store beauty events.  Amanda Nusz, Target’s senior vice president of merchandising, essentials and beauty, noted that the team has worked with beauty powerhouses and small, innovative, emerging brands alike to bring intriguing new products to the mix, from categories including K-beauty, multi-textured haircare and fragrance.  “We ended up with a spring beauty lineup that reflects what guests are looking for right now — exciting discoveries, Target‑only exclusives and prices that feel good. And we’ve freshened up the in‑store experience, too, so finding a new favourite feels easy and enjoyable,” stated Nusz.  Target’s beauty expansion comes at an intriguing point for the brand, as it is just a few months shy of its partnership with Ulta Beauty closing this August.  The Target x Ulta Beauty partnership was an ambitious joint venture first announced in November 2020 and which officially launched in August 2021 with the first “shop-in-shop” locations across hundreds of Target stores and online.  Due to multiple operational missteps, including understaffing and theft, and less-than-desired results, both companies chose to shut down the alliance.  Regarding Target’s latest attempts to tap into beauty, Christine Russo, the principal of Retail Creative and Consulting Agency (RCCA), remarked, “Target’s beauty move is both smart and late. Let’s hope for them that smart wins.” Can Target successfully tap into the beauty retail sector?  It’s no surprise that Target would want to dive deeper into the beauty industry, a market projected to reach $108.19 billion by the end of 2026, according to analytics firm Statista. However, as Russo explained to Inside Retail, the beauty industry is not the easiest sector for retailers to slide into, especially in recent years. “Beauty is not the home run it was in 2021 through 2023, when the appetite was voracious with global sales at 10 per cent, particularly with the rise of TikTok beauty creators creating a surge in creativity and brand placement and the growing interest in K-beauty.” She explained that in today’s retail landscape, beauty is in a state of rebalancing, with increased margin pressure from a proliferation of products and missteps in brand collaborations that made brands and influencers look inauthentic. However, Russo pointed out that the demise of the Ulta Beauty x Target partnership was less about the beauty category and more about the in-store experience, including out-of-stock products, insufficient staffing, and a less-than-favourable shopping experience, which reflected poorly on both retailers.  With Target diving into beauty on its own terms, without the influence of another partner, Russo predicted that the big-box player stands a chance to make some big moves in this retail category.  “As Target is looking to rebuild traffic, redoing the assortment and store presentation is an intelligent way to connect with customers. Curiosity can drive both physical and online traffic. If the experience is good, it can drive repeated visits,” said Russo.  Ultimately, a failed retail alliance leaves room for Target to open its own improved, self-driven beauty experience.  An opinion that Naomi Omamuli Emiko, founder and owner of TNGE, a marketing agency and growth studio built to accelerate beauty and wellness brands, somewhat agrees with.  “Target’s opportunity isn’t to become a “curated” beauty retailer in the traditional sense. With 3,000-plus SKUs, curation as taste-making or restraint isn’t very credible – and competing with Sephora or Ulta Beauty on edit would be quite the losing game.” “Where Target could stand out is by becoming editorial at scale,” said Emiko. “There’s white space for a big retailer organising beauty around real-life routines, use cases and moments rather than brand hierarchies. That’s a fundamentally different value proposition.” If Target leans into speed, clarity and low-risk discovery – translated via task-based merchandising, education-light signage and rotating trend edits, Emiko predicts that it can win on intuitiveness rather than aspiration.  “Post-Ulta Beauty, the goal should not be to feel special or exclusive – but rather to make beauty feel obvious and easy and cater directly to a market where consumers are overwhelmed by choice, by owning practical authority as a powerful differentiator.” Similarly, Kimber Maderazzo, a professor of marketing at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and veteran beauty industry expert, remarked, “With the redesign of its stores and the end of the Ulta partnership, Target is in a strong position to realign with today’s beauty consumer.” In today’s quickly evolving beauty retail landscape, shoppers are no longer just looking for access. They are looking for relevance, discovery, and brands that feel chosen for them, not mass-placed, which Target could provide with this new, intentional approach to beauty.  “For years, Target’s beauty aisle started to feel interchangeable with other big-box retailers. This is their moment to change that. By stepping away from the Ulta shop-in-shop model, Target has the opportunity to define a point of view in beauty again and curate with intention, not just scale,” said Maderazzo.  “Target is, in many ways, going back to its roots. It has always been about bringing style, design, and aspiration to everyday consumers. This is a chance for Target to be the ‘Tar-zhay’ of beauty once again, delivering value through thoughtful curation, not through sameness.” “This is not about becoming another Ulta. It is about becoming something only Target can be: a beauty destination built for how people actually shop today.” Further reading: Why Sephora and Olive Young are building a K-beauty-powered retail alliance