Over 100 emerging beauty brands are now available to shop on UB Marketplace, the beauty specialty retailer’s new marketplace. The assortment spans wellness, grooming, personal care, luxury, tools and international beauty and includes brands like Manucurist, Apotheke, Blinc, Inked by Dani, Oars + Alps, Babe Original, Ogee, Saturday Skin, Nuxe, Esker Beauty, Sara Happ, Caldera + Lab, Saalt, Manscaped, Wrinkles Schminkles and Byroe.

Ulta’s entry into the marketplace arena comes at a pivotal moment. Sephora is expected to launch its own marketplace soon, while Amazon continues to dominate beauty e-commerce. The multiplication of marketplaces is happening as nearly half of beauty purchases are moving online, according to market research firm NielsenIQ, with Amazon becoming the biggest beauty retailer in the world. Beauty retailers must adapt quickly or be left behind.

But not all marketplaces are created equal. As retailers jockey for digital share, they’re employing vastly different strategies, from Amazon and Walmart’s open, third-party models to invite-only, curated approaches like Ulta’s UB Marketplace. For beauty brands, understanding these distinctions is critical.

According to a statement from Ulta, the retailer plans to scale its marketplace assortment rapidly over the next 12 to 18 months. Muffy Clince, director of category management marketplace at Ulta and its former director of emerging brands, heads the team overseeing UB Marketplace’s brand curation process. UB Marketplace’s broader leadership team includes Lauren Brindley, chief merchandising and digital officer, Josh Friedman, SVP of e-commerce and digital and James Lang, VP of marketplace. The marketplace is fully integrated across the retailer’s website and app to ensure a seamless shopping experience for customers.

Shoppers can earn Ulta Beauty Rewards points on eligible purchases made on the marketplace and return them in store across the retailer’s full fleet of 1,400-plus stores or by mail. Brands handle shipping and pay to list on the platform. Ulta doesn’t hold inventory for marketplace brands.

“UB Marketplace allows us to deliver more newness, faster entry into emerging subcategories and trends, and deeper category authority – while keeping the guest experience unmistakably Ulta Beauty,” said Brindley in a press release.

Ulta’s UB Marketplace is the latest in a string of marketplace launches aimed at gaining share with online customers without the burden of large inventory bets. Over the past six years, Target, Macy’s and Nordstrom have initiated marketplaces on their sites, joining long-time e-commerce powerhouses Amazon and Walmart. Walmart has been steadily adding premium beauty brands to its marketplace to get an edge on Amazon. Multimillion-dollar direct-to-consumer fashion brand Quince launched a beauty marketplace this past summer.

As marketplaces proliferate, we decided to explore how beauty brands should navigate this new landscape. For the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions related to indie beauty, we asked seven retail consultants, analysts and marketplace agencies the following: How should beauty brands integrate marketplaces into their distribution strategies to achieve maximum impact? What are the risks and opportunities for beauty brands with marketplaces, third-party or otherwise? What is your view on marketplaces: Are they worthy places of investment for beauty brands?