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In the dynamic world of beauty retail, staying ahead requires more than just the hottest trends — it demands agility, data-driven insights, and seamless customer experiences. Ulta Beauty, a leader in the beauty and wellness industry, understands this. 

Building on the success of modernizing its e-commerce platform with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Ulta Beauty partnered with Google Cloud, Accenture, IBM and Infosys to embark on a comprehensive digital transformation, redefining the beauty retail experience. 

Two key initiatives — an enterprise data warehouse transformation Darwin (Enterprise Data Warehouse Project) and MIA (Mobile Inventory Application) — were at the heart of their makeover.

A Foundation Built on Agility: The GKE Advantage

Ulta Beauty’s transformation began with a foundational shift to the cloud. In 2019, recognizing the limitations of its existing e-commerce infrastructure, the company migrated to GKE, embracing a containerized, microservices architecture. This strategic move provided the agility and scalability essential for supporting Ulta Beauty’s rapidly growing online presence and laid the groundwork for further innovation. 

By adopting GKE, Ulta Beauty gained a more flexible and resilient platform, enabling the company to respond more effectively to changing market demands, seasonal traffic spikes, and customer expectations. This initial success with GKE instilled confidence in Google Cloud’s capabilities, paving the way for more ambitious modernization projects.

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Darwin: Unleashing the Power of Data with BigQuery

Ulta Beauty recognized the need to modernize its analytics capabilities to keep pace with its growing data volume and complexity. “We wanted everything in one location, to get rid of manual tasks and to take the next step on the analytics curve,” explained Mac Coyle, director of Cloud Engineering at Ulta Beauty. Slow query performance, data silos, and limited access for business users hindered timely insights and agile decision-making.

Ulta Beauty found the solution in Google BigQuery, the foundation for its new analytics platform, Darwin. BigQuery’s serverless architecture, scalability, and performance provided the necessary ingredients for a data-driven transformation. Partnering with Accenture, Ulta Beauty migrated over 300 datasets and developed 50 core enterprise reports. Infosys played a key role in integrating Darwin with various systems, including S4 and legacy applications, ensuring seamless data flow and accelerating the development of critical reports. 

“The opportunity to drive innovation is boundless when everything is centralized in one place,” says Coyle. “With Darwin, our teams are empowered with access to timely, actionable data, driving more informed decision-making across the enterprise.” Darwin now provides store managers and business leaders with real-time dashboards showing key performance indicators, enabling them to make data-driven decisions on the spot.

A unified platform, ready for the demands of AI, was the driving force behind Darwin’s development. “We built Darwin not just for today’s analytics needs, but for tomorrow’s AI-powered possibilities,” says Krish Das, VP of Enterprise Data and AI Officer at Ulta Beauty. This ensures data is ready for advanced analytics, machine learning, and personalization, positioning the company for continued growth.

MIA: Empowering Store Associates with Modern Inventory Management

Ulta Beauty also sought to modernize its inventory management system to empower store associates and enhance the guest experience. 

Alongside its ERP upgrade, Project SOAR (“Strengthen, Optimize, Accelerate, Renew”), Ulta Beauty called upon Accenture to reimagine its inventory management processes along with partners Infosys and IBM to develop MIA (Mobile Inventory Application). Infosys played a vital role in developing and implementing MIA, building the real-time integrations with S/4HANA and optimizing the store rollout process, and now provides ongoing support and development for the application. MIA is a native mobile application built on GKE, Google Cloud Storage (GCS), and MongoDB. 

“With MIA, we saw a double digit reduction in the number of clicks throughout the application” explains Natalie Fong, Senior Director of Business Initiatives and Transformation at Ulta Beauty. This streamlined approach translates to significant time savings, allowing associates to focus on delivering exceptional, personalized guest experiences. 

Fong also highlighted broader time savings from streamlined processes, such as the paperless procurement process and a centralized supplier portal. Key MIA features include real-time inventory lookups, streamlined receiving, efficient cycle counting, mobile access to product information, and easy price label generation and store transfers. Now, associates are equipped with real-time data at their fingertips, enhancing their ability to quickly and accurately assist guests.

The Power of Partnership: A Collaborative Approach to Transformation

Ulta Beauty’s digital transformation has been a collaborative journey. Accenture played a key role in the Darwin implementation and ERP upgrade, while IBM led the development of MIA and Infosys provided crucial integration expertise for both initiatives. 

“We couldn’t have achieved this transformation without the close partnership of Google Cloud, Accenture, and IBM,” says Krish Das, VP of Enterprise Data and AI Officer, Ulta Beauty. “Key to our success was our ability to combine our expertise and work together seamlessly to deliver the best solutions for Ulta Beauty.” 

This close collaboration, including joint development efforts between Google Cloud, Accenture, IBM and Infosys, was imperative for aligning the technical aspects of both projects and ensuring cohesive outcomes.

A Vision for the Future: Data-Driven Beauty at Scale

Darwin and MIA, developed in close collaboration with Google Cloud, Accenture, IBM and Infosys represent a significant leap forward in Ulta Beauty’s data-driven journey. These initiatives have not only delivered real-time insights and streamlined operations but also built a robust, AI-ready data foundation to innovate upon. Now, with the power of Google Cloud, including generative AI capabilities like Gemini, Ulta Beauty is poised to unlock even greater possibilities at the forefront of modern retail, and is ready to redefine the beauty industry. Ready to modernize your data analytics and build a foundation for AI? Learn more about Google Cloud’s BigQuery Migration Services.