There was standing room only at CEW’s first Transformational Leader event, which spotlighted Ulta’s CEO, Mary Dillon, and highlighted the company’s meteoric rise to the top of the beauty retail game.

See the photos above by JF Productions. 

During the sold-out event, held at the Roosevelt Hotel on Wednesday, September 7, Dillon revealed that despite the fact that many retailers are struggling, Ulta is on track to christen 100 new stores by the end of this year.

“Retail has struggled mightily, brick and mortar is struggling, but Ulta continues to have double digit growth,” said the evening’s moderator, CEW chairwoman, Jill Scalamandre, who also serves as president of Shiseido's Global Makeup Center of Excellence. “The hardest thing to do is to sustain growth and Ulta Beauty has been able to do that.”

As evidenced by this surge in both store footprints and customer acquisition, event moderator Scalamandre said she hoped Mary would spill her “secret sauce” to the crowd of 600.

“Ulta is 26 years old now so it’s not like I invented the business,” said Dillon. “The folks who invented the business had some very smart ideas that I think were very timely in retrospect.”

Dillon, who became CEO of the beauty retailer in 2013 after a career in consumer packaged goods, restaurant retailing, and telecom, hit the ground running by continuing the retailer’s legacy of fast expansion.

“My sense about Ulta Beauty was that it has a whole bunch of potential ahead of it and I think we are proving that now,” said Dillon, who is at the helm of 22,000 employees, of which 92% are women. “This is the most innovative, creative, entrepreneurial group of people I’ve ever worked with in my career,” said the CEO.

After launching Ulta’s Ultimate Rewards Credit Card, an Ulta-branded MasterCard, earlier this summer, in conjunction with a loyalty program that already has 20.6 million members, Dillon said she will continue to look to her shopper to launch new initiatives.

“We don’t do anything unless our guests want it and, boy do they,” said Dillon, about the loyalty program. “Our guests are really savvy about the points program. It’s part of an ongoing relationship that our guests want.”

Dillon then cited a few elements that made Ulta different from its competitors. Among them was the retail strategy, the fact that Ulta stores are accessibly located in suburban strip malls, as well as the store's mixed bag of mass, class, and professional products, meant to mimic the way a woman shops.

“I think everyone here knows that it’s really a mixture of brands and products, as well as services [that women want],” said Dillon, who was recently featured in Fortune Magazine as number six on its 2015 Business Person of the Year Top 50 listing. “I’m thankful I inherited it.”

According to Dillon, her approach for Ulta’s continued acceleration was three-pronged. First, she focused in on further establishing the brand by driving brand awareness, next she invested in infrastructure by matching capabilities with capacities, and finally, she focused on company culture.

“We compete with everybody that sells beauty but no one does exactly what we do,” said Dillon. “Ulta has always been a mix of brands, categories and price points. We’re adding more prestige brands over the years, and we will continue to evolve in terms of categories and brands.”

According to Dillon it is this mix of products as well as services, that are “strategic pillars of the business,” and completely unique in the U.S. beauty retail space. “[Services are] part of the differentiator for Ulta. They animate the store and bring it to life,” she said.

Among the services available in Ulta stores are brow, facials, manicures, makeup application, as well as haircuts, color and treatments, done in partnership with Ulta-distributed brands like Benefit, Dermalogica, OPI and Redken. “What I love about [offering services] is that it’s part of the [DNA] of Ulta, where you can get everything in one place,” said Dillon. We will continue to build out the service component of our business.”

And there’s room to grow.

Surprisingly, according to Dillion, only 7% of Ulta’s loyalty members are using the store’s salon. “We still have a lot of growth ahead,” said Dillon. “Our guests who come and use the services are great guests because they come more often and spend more than others.”

When asked to describe the shopping preferences of the Ulta consumer, Dillon said there is no exact recipe. “It’s not so black and white,” Dillon said. “She shops at a lot of places, she’s not giving us all her share of wallet, but it’s increasing. She’s somebody who loves beauty, and loves to shop in person and online for newness and innovation.”

According to Dillon, despite Ulta's figure of 84% aided awareness, there is more work to do.

“Eventually we will get to 100,” she said. “In some ways I would say we are just beginning.”

Toward the end of the evening, Dillon asserted the fact that just because digital is growing, brick and mortar, especially in the beauty space, isn’t going anywhere.

“With TiVo people thought television was dead,” she said, underscoring that most beauty lovers prefer physically experiencing product. “Shopping in person isn’t going to go away.”

Regardless, digital is a marked focus for Ulta, said Dillon.  

“We’re not going to rest on our laurels,” she said. “When anyone is thinking about beauty, [the shopping experience] starts with their phone and that’s where we need to be.”

Looking to the future, Dillon said she plans “more services, more mix,” coupled with stepping up Ulta’s digital game via collaborations with beauty sites like Popsugar, and beauty bloggers.

Citing the increasing role of social media and influencers, Dillon said part of Ulta's magic formula is to balance giving consumers who want a more one-on-one service what they want, with those who prefer a more laissez-faire approach.

“Our guests are coming in very informed, but having said that, some want more service,” she said. “We’re thinking a lot about the role of technology, we are thinking a lot about the store experience. The way you futureproof is to be humble, creative and strategic at the same time… Always think of all ways.”