Oura's smart ring is now on sale at Ulta Beauty. It went live on Ulta.com on November 10 and reaches 1,000 Ulta stores on November 22. It is the first health wearable Ulta has stocked, according to Oura's announcement.
Whoop is right behind. It announced its own Ulta deal on November 4, with its bands arriving online and in selected stores in March 2027.
Two of the biggest names in recovery tracking just picked a beauty retailer. If you sell recovery at your gym or studio, that is your new competition.
Why are fitness wearables being sold in a beauty store?
Because Ulta is selling them as self-care. The Oura Ring 5 goes into Wellness by Ulta Beauty, the retailer's wellness range, and buyers earn Ulta Rewards points on it. Oura's pitch is that you can see how your skincare routine and evening wind-down change your sleep and stress. Ulta's vice president of wellness, Laura Beres, said "beauty and wellness are deeply connected." For Whoop, the draw is reach. Ulta has about 47 million loyalty members, and Whoop says the deal reaches shoppers who may not normally buy a sports wearable.
The two deals side by side
| Oura | Whoop | |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | November 9 | November 4 |
| On sale at Ulta | Online now, 1,000 stores from November 22 | March 2027, online and selected stores |
| What's on the shelf | Oura Ring 5 | WHOOP 5.0, WHOOP MG, bands and accessories |
| Starting price | $399 | Not announced |
| Ulta Rewards points | Yes | Not announced |
The July hire just paid off
We saw this one coming. In July, Whoop hired Kyle Leahy, the former CEO of Glossier, as its chief commercial officer. We said then that the strap would start showing up in stores where you can touch it before you buy it. Leahy is the executive quoted in the Ulta announcement.
Oura got there first anyway. Whoop announced first, but Oura is on the shelf about four months sooner, in time for the holidays. For a company that postponed its IPO in October, a 1,000-store launch is a fast way to reach new buyers.
How it is sold matters too. Ulta stores carry the most common ring sizes, 7 to 10, plus a sizing kit you can try at the counter. Everything else is online. That is a try-before-you-buy setup, the same move Leahy made at Glossier when she took it from its own website into Sephora. A ring you can slip on in a store you already visit is an easier first purchase than one ordered from a fitness brand's site.
Recovery is now a beauty purchase
Here is the part that matters for your business. A recovery score (a daily number, built from sleep and heart data, that tells you how ready your body is) used to be something athletes bought. Now it sits next to night cream and goes on the same points card.
Ulta's own research says 74% of its shoppers prioritise wellness in their beauty routines. That is the retailer's survey, used to sell this category, so weigh it accordingly. The direction still holds. The member who walks in next January may own a ring they bought as self-care. Their recovery habit is a wind-down routine and a sleep goal. Training is one part of it.
Gyms and studios have spent two years selling recovery on performance. Train harder, bounce back faster. That pitch speaks to a narrower group than the one Ulta is now selling to.
What this means for you
Test the self-care words. If you sell sauna, cold plunge, red light or stretch, try new words. Use the ones your members are being sold the ring with: sleep, stress, winding down. See which version books more sessions.
Check your price against the shelf. A $399 ring is now a recovery purchase your members can make on the way home. If you sell a recovery pack at the front desk, it will be compared with that. Say plainly what members get from you that a ring can't give them: the room, the heat, the person.
Ask about wearables at sign-up. More members will arrive with a daily score. As we wrote when Lilly invested in Oura, the value is in reading the data. A coach who can explain a member's score looks current. One who ignores it looks dated.
Look at local partners differently. A spa, salon or skincare studio may be a better partner for a recovery package than a running shop.
Your members are buying recovery in the beauty aisle now. Sell it to them the way the beauty aisle does.