From Ulta Beauty’s new marketplace to Gap’s creator platform, here’s what the eight most interesting retailers from October have been up to, as ranked on our “Behind the Numbers” podcast.

1. Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty is the latest retailer to expand its assortment with an invite-only marketplace on its website and app.

• This approach enables Ulta to curate its product assortment while giving consumers a wider range of choices.
• "The ability to really curate the exact right products, the right quality products is something that will help Ulta stand out," said our analyst Arielle Feger. "It's also a more monetizable ad space for its retail media network."

The marketplace approach faces challenges, however.

"It'll be interesting to see how their marketplace can compete with Amazon and Walmart because we've seen them doing so well in the beauty space for many years," said our analyst Blake Droesh.

2. Walmart

Walmart is teaming up with OpenAI to enable shopping through ChatGPT, making it one of the major retailers to make this move.

• The initiative underscores its commitment to being seen as a tech-forward company rather than a dated retailer.
• “Walmart is always sort of at the forefront of these things,” said Droesch. “They were really quick to partner with TikTok and connected TV platforms on shoppable media.”

While consumer adoption of AI-powered shopping remains limited, Walmart's experimentation demonstrates its willingness to invest in potential future commerce channels, a crucial strategy in today's rapidly evolving retail landscape.

3. Gap

Gap has launched a centralized creator and affiliate advocacy program that unifies engagement across its portfolio of brands, including Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta.

• The hub provides creators access to new releases, product seeding, and exclusive promotions while potentially giving Gap valuable cross-brand data insights.
• "Having one united program can give Gap a little more insight into how all of their creator programs are performing across the portfolio," said Feger.

The program is open to creators of all sizes. "As long as you have a thousand followers, you can join the program, and I think that's a smart move," said our analyst Rachel Wolff. "If you have more creators, that just means more available content."

4. Bombas

D2C sock brand Bombas is opening its own retail locations, an interesting move considering the brand has sold its products in other retailers for years.

"Maybe they are also being really smart about it," Feger suggested. "They have built their brand. They have a loyal following. They've done their due diligence of creating a larger audience through their retailer partnerships, and now that they're on more solid ground, this is a good time to expand."

Bombas exemplifies "doing D2C the right way" by timing their physical expansion appropriately, noted Droesch.

"They're the type of brand that I feel like opening stores and growing and expanding into different verticals is actually going to help bolster their business rather than cripple it," he said.

5. SKIMS

Kim Kardashian's SKIMS brand secured the fifth position with a provocative product launch: G-string underwear adorned with fake pubic hair in 12 colors.

• The controversial product generated significant social media buzz and sold out quickly.
• "Kim Kardashian, SKIMS, they are no stranger to controversy, no stranger to drumming up lots of social talk, and this is just another one of those things," Feger explained.

Wolff noted the effectiveness of the marketing strategy: "As a marketing stunt, it did exactly what it was meant to do, which is get people interested, get them to the website to look at what this thing is, and then maybe click around and see some other maybe less controversial items."

Other brands that made the list include:

• Depop, in sixth place, for launching "Outfits," a Pinterest-like feature that helps users create styled looks from disparate resale items.
• Bobbie, in seventh place, for partnering with Cardi B as "Chief Confidence Officer" in a campaign destigmatizing formula feeding.
• L'Oreal, in eighth place, for acquiring Kering's beauty division for €4 billion, strengthening its position in luxury beauty and fragrances.

Listen to the full episode

This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.

This was originally featured in the Retail Daily newsletter. For more retail insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.