Josh Friedman on Ulta Beauty’s Digital Transformation & Personalization Strategy | NRF 2025

Hello, everyone.

This is Omnitok Retail.

I'm Anne Mazinga.

And I'm Chris Walton.

And we're back once again from the Fusion group booth number 4938.

Chris, did you know this is the third largest booth at NRF?

I did not know that, Anne.

Is it, is that calculated?

That's a calculable thing, I guess.

I haven't fact checked, but I probably.

At least word on the street says that it's the third largest booth.

Word on the street says that we are in the third largest booth.

So.

So we are of third greatest importance at nrs.

Wow.

I feel really big time right now.

We know why we're big time because.

We have a gentleman standing in between us.

We do.

We have Josh Friedman standing in between us of Ulta.

Josh, welcome to Omni Talk.

We're really excited to have you today.

Your role, head of digital strategy and transformation at Ulta Beauty.

Is that right?

That is the title they gave me.

All right, title they gave you.

Well, tell us, tell us about your background and, and what that title actually entails.

What all are you responsible for in your job?

Yeah, it's really two things for us.

At Ulta, I do digital product management.

I run all of our product teams and I also lead our agile transformation.

So what we build and how we build it.

Okay, I didn't know that.

All right, so I want to talk to you a little bit, Josh, about how you prioritize then, what technologies you're coming to look at here at the, at NRF's big show.

How do you kind of think about that in your role?

Yeah, the show comes at a really good time for us, really, because we just come out of annual planning.

Okay.

So we've set our priorities as a company for the year.

We know what our major thrusts are going to be, where our major investments.

So when we show up here, we kind of know who we're looking for and what types of things we're looking for, trying to do next year.

And that's really how we set our strategies.

Roadmap.

We do it as a company, we do it as a business first.

And then from a product and technology perspective, we obviously line up behind that to see what we can support, how fast we can accelerate our efforts to line up behind the company's priorities.

And are there a few things that kind of bubble to the top of that priorities list for you?

Yes, and they're probably the expected things.

Personalization's a bit big one for us.

And listen, at Ulta, we Have an amazing loyalty program because we have an amazing customer base, but we have 44 million loyalty members.

95% of our sales come from our loyalty program.

Yeah.

So our opportunity, but really our obligation to give good, relevant experiences to those customers is at our forefront.

And so we're really excited about a lot of the technologies, a lot.

Lot of the partners we're seeing that are going to help us take advantage of the trust our customers put in us.

Yeah.

So, Josh, you mentioned personalization.

And, you know, your background, which, you know, we, you know, in the beginning we were saying, like, what's your background?

And talking to you before we got started, your background is steep in E commerce.

You started with Dell, then you had stints at J.C.

penney's and others.

How do you.

So two questions for you.

How do you think about that term personalization?

It's a very loaded term in a lot of ways.

How do you think about it?

And then how do you evaluate what technologies are going to work for you or not work for you as you try to accomplish, you know, something in the personalization realm this year?

Yeah.

Well, for us, it's three things.

One is we want to know as much as we can about our customers.

And thankfully, our customers are willing to share a lot.

We're in a space of beauty and wellness.

Our customers.

You know more about me than Chris probably does.

That could be.

But it's not you personally, but it's really because you're willing to share that with us.

Right.

Because it means so much to your person.

Personal.

Because you're an open book, Ann.

It's when it comes to my beauty and skincare routine.

My beauty regimen.

Yes.

So we're always looking for partners in technology to help us gather that, organize it, keep it handy.

Second thing is.

So data collection, is that what that means?

Yeah.

Zero party.

First party.

All the parties.

All the parties.

It's a party.

It's always a party at Ulta.

And the second thing is we want to make sure that we take that data and understand what.

What that means we should be focusing on with you.

So whether it's your regimen, whether it's a promotion, whether it's a new brand that we're going to offer you, those will always mean different things to different people.

So organizing that and prioritizing what we should do, and then comes decisioning.

Right.

Which is always the hard part.

We only have a fleeting moment with each customer, as all of the retailers do, and we want to make sure we make the most of it for us.

And for you.

And then the last thing is obviously to put content in front of it.

So what's really crazy and coming on strong is the ability to come up with new content and offers in almost real time that look exactly like what you want them to look like and what you want them to look like without having to spend a ton of time in the creative value chain producing those.

And so we're really on the lookout for some of those technologies here.

Got it.

So, so basically, if I say, if I wrap up what you said, so it's.

It's data, it's insights, and then it's activation.

So dia.

Really, those three things that you're trying.

To accomplish, decisions, and the content, those are really two.

Two.

Two separate pieces of that third pillar.

Yeah.

Four things.

Yeah.

How.

How much does AI play into kind of the foundation of what you're exploring as you're trying to build or find partners to help build.

Build the content part of that and really personalizing it to me, even with, like, you know, that I, you know, like a pink shade of lipstick versus a red shade or something like.

Well, and even to know which ones are pink and which ones are red and which ones are fusion.

Right?

Yeah.

Well, I would be a fool to say that it's not a big part of it.

It's a huge part of it.

Yeah.

I'll have an easier time getting off the floor here if I say it's not a big part of it.

But besides that, it's gotta be huge to understand our products, understand our customers, do that decisioning.

It's happening in near real time and with humans that we have on staff that have a lot of great experience to help us train models, and the models coming on like gangbusters, It's a huge opportunity.

Well, I wanna dive into another question, Josh.

When we're talking about your role as really working to transform where Alta is headed in the future, what have you found in your experience?

And it could be pulling from previous experience at Alta, but what have you found has to be true about the people, the process, the technologies in the day to day in order for a transformation to be successful, or for you to be able to move these ideas from concept to scale or to store.

Great question.

Because we're here watching all this technology, and it's kind of the least hard part of it.

Oh, what?

Yeah.

Okay.

Say more.

Yeah.

So for us as humans to keep up with what we can do and think a little differently, we're all growing our careers and trying to get better and better at our jobs.

And the truth is our jobs are like, need to be much different than they were.

So that's a tough.

Yeah, a tough thing to swallow and to get used to.

So getting people thinking about the customer instead of the channel or the customer instead of the product or the customer instead of the brand is a big difference.

Is it still a challenge?

I mean.

Well, for all of us.

I mean, I put myself at the center of that, but for all of us to think in that.

In that manner, like, because we can.

Is a big.

Is a big deal.

And then the other thing is velocity, right?

We as companies, as brands, as, you know, fiduciaries of our shareholders, all those things, we want to make sure we're making really good, careful decisions, but we have to move quickly.

We have to execute quickly, but we also have to make decisions really quickly.

And that's part of the transformation journey that we're on.

So let's get you out of here on this, Josh.

So, you know you mentioned the show, right?

We're here at nrf.

Big deal.

Big show.

Everyone congregates here in all of retail for the most part, especially in the spaces in which you occupy.

We always ask our executives this question, like, how do you approach this show?

Like, what are your do's and don'ts to be successful at nrf?

My favorite thing to do at the show is literally to walk probably to the back half.

This is gonna upset this third largest booth and all the big booths up here at the front.

I like to walk to the back half, and I literally just like to walk up to some random booth and just start talking to them.

I love to hear about their products and their technology, but I like to just talk to the people and find out, how'd you get here?

How'd you pick over here?

Like, is it worth it for you?

So I love to just wander in the back half of the.

Of the floor if I can.

I love that strategy.

Some small folks, we were just up at the Innovator showcase and on a tour, and our best visit was somebody that we just kind of peeled off and said hello to and look forward to meeting them in the future.

So.

So for you, there's an element of serendipitous discovery then?

There really is, yeah.

Versus being really intentful.

And it goes every which way.

Every executive we talk to has a different approach.

Some people are really intentful.

Some people want to leave time for serendipitous discovery.

And for those watching, there are three huge floors of technology solutions providers here at the TI center, which is massive, and there's three full floors devoted to technology solutions.

So you can spend a lot of time on just walking around and seeing what floats your boat and gets your eye.

Right?

Yeah, you could.

But I will tell you right now, in a few months, I'm not here to announce it, but we'll be putting in a platform from a partner I found here last year that we started talking to at the show.

At the show, and they're going in later this year.

And that's.

And that's why this is important.

Yes.

Yeah.

And why it's important for all of you who are at home watching, who are here watching to make sure that you are doing exactly what Josh just mentioned.

Check out the innovation area.

Check out the.

The start at the back floor.

Work your way around, you know.

Well, we want to thank everybody.

This concludes our day one of NRF coverage.

We will be live from the Fusion group booth, number 4938, tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning and Tuesday, bright and early.

So make sure to check back with Omntok here.

And until then, be careful out there.