MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 18, 2025--
Lucky is excited to announce a partnership with Ulta Beauty, the largest specialty beauty retailer in the United States. This collaboration will empower beauty brands to seamlessly connect their Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) websites and marketing with Ulta Beauty's extensive in-store inventory in real-time, revolutionizing the way customers shop for their favorite beauty products.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250218701659/en/
Through this innovative partnership, customers browsing their preferred beauty brand's marketing and website will now have the ability to view real-time product availability at nearby Ulta Beauty stores. This capability allows customers to easily locate and purchase the latest makeup, skincare, haircare, and fragrance products with the added convenience of same-day pickup or delivery from their local Ulta Beauty store, creating a more seamless, efficient, and satisfying shopping experience for all.
By leveraging Ulta Beauty's network of more than 1,400 stores across 50 states, this partnership provides beauty enthusiasts with the fastest and most efficient way to obtain the products they love from a trusted local retailer. Customers can choose to pick up their online orders at a nearby Ulta Beauty location or have them delivered directly to their home, making thousands of beauty products more accessible than ever before.
"The partnership between Lucky and Ulta Beauty represents a critical connection in the beauty retail landscape," said Sneh Parmar, Co-Founder of Lucky. "As beauty consumers increasingly demand seamless, omnichannel shopping experiences, it's crucial for brands to adapt and innovate. By integrating Ulta Beauty's in-store inventory with their DTC websites and marketing, beauty brands can now offer their customers unparalleled convenience, flexibility, and choice."
Ulta Beauty's extensive inventory, supply chain infrastructure, and localization capabilities make it the ideal partner to support omnichannel fulfillment on a national scale. By integrating Ulta Beauty’s unmatched inventory network with Lucky's platform, Ulta Beauty can now enable brands to connect directly with local stores to fulfill online orders, giving customers more convenient and faster options to acquire the beauty products they love.
To explore how your beauty brand can participate in this channel-connecting partnership, please reach out for a demo from Lucky. We make it simple to sync your online store and marketing with Ulta Beauty retail data to unlock the power of localized omnichannel commerce in the beauty industry.
About Lucky
Lucky's belief is that it should be easier for people to experience the brands they love. We think the massive gap between online and offline experiences is a relic of an obsolete era, and brands who bridge that gulf will build better, more meaningful relationships with their customers. And for those customers, it means our shopping experiences will finally catch up to the hybrid lives we've all started living.
Our vision is to connect commerce across all channels to provide products and services that ultimately benefit the end customer. As a company, improving how people shop is our top priority. Shopping and commerce have been a constant in humanity, but the methods in which this occurs have undergone an evolution that requires refinement and unification. While these continue to evolve, we hope to build the bridges between where and when someone wants a product, ultimately integrating into an ecosystem where experiences are heightened exponentially.
Lucky Partners with Ulta Beauty to Transform Omnichannel Beauty Shopping Experience (Graphic: Business Wire)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
