Beauty’s Digital Battleground: Sephora vs. Ulta & Amazon in the Year of the Search Shake-Up

The beauty retail landscape has always been fierce, but the period from April 2024 to March 2025 marked a significant turning point. The battleground shifted sharply to a critical arena: the Google Shopping Ads section of the search engine results page (SERP).

Note: All data and insights shared in this report are based specifically on Google Shopping Ads, not other SERP features like paid search text ads or organic search results.

For Sephora, long the titan of prestige beauty search, Google has become both a mirror and a magnifier of market shifts. As consumers increasingly begin their beauty journey online, visibility, specifically Share of Voice (SOV) and coveted Above-the-Fold (ATF) placement, is the new prime shelf space.

And in this digital arena, a fascinating story of disruption is unfolding. Sephora’s once-unshakeable dominance is being challenged not just by competitors catching up, but by rivals redefining the game. Ulta Beauty is employing surgical, data-driven tactics, while the ever-present Amazon leverages its pricing power and algorithmic might. They aren’t just outspending; they’re outmaneuvering.

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Let’s dive into the data from the past year provided by GrowByData to see how this digital drama played out:

1. From Dominance to Disruption: The Shifting Tides of Share of Voice

Sephora began the year commanding an impressive Share of Voice (April 2024) on Google Shopping Ads with 72% on the 6th of April. However, by Q1 2025, this lead had eroded significantly. While Sephora technically finished the period with an average 12.9% SOV, this number masks a 32.11% decline year-over-year and a steep drop from its initial peak. Their long-standing presence isn’t yielding the same visibility returns.

As Sephora slowed, its competitors surged:

• Amazon: Woke up in beauty search, Amazon saw massive SOV growth reaching up to 53.8% on December 27th by strategically syncing deep discounts with high-demand periods like Prime Day on July with 18.8% and the Holiday season in December with 18.1%.
• Ulta Beauty: Took a sniper’s approach. Despite a smaller overall footprint, they demonstrated remarkable agility, delivering targeted, high-impact campaigns and visibility bursts in Q4 2024 with 20.7% SOV.

The Strategic Signal: The era of winning through sheer constant presence may be over. Sephora’s fading dominance and flat performance, even during peak seasons, highlight that agility, not just consistency, is the new competitive edge. Precision timing and adaptive campaigns are winning the day.

2. The Above-the-Fold Battle: Where Prime Real Estate Redefines Winners

Visibility matters, but prime visibility – appearing above the fold without scrolling – is where clicks are won or lost. Here, the trends are stark:

• Sephora’s ATF presence dropped to 14.9%, a concerning 33.33% decrease from April 2024 to March 2025. They are simply less likely to be seen immediately by searchers.
• Ulta Beauty achieved a stunning 87.50% increase in ATF visibility. This incredible leap secures premium digital real estate, likely driven by smarter bid strategies, healthier product feeds, or sharper value propositions.
• Amazon leads the pack with a strong 123.53% ATF share, riding on aggressive pricing, Prime’s infrastructure, and platform relevance.

The Crux: Winning the initial glance is critical. Ulta’s surge here is a major competitive coup. If you’re not showing up top-of-page consistently, you’re not playing to win. Sephora urgently needs to reclaim this high-value visual territory.

Sephora’s ATF drop underscores the urgency of optimizing Shopping feeds and bid strategies. Brands like Net-A-Porter have proven that a focused, data-driven approach can turn performance around dramatically. Learn how Net-A-Porter reversed its Shopping fortunes here.

3. Product Strategy Isn’t Just Assortment: Content & Value Matter

Digging into product-level shopping ad copies reveals nuanced strengths and vulnerabilities:

• Sephora’s Edge: Dominates with premium, high-rated products (e.g., Charlotte Tilbury, Tower 28), boasts significant review volume (lending authority), and often has a broader SKU count within lines (e.g., 566 for Charlotte Tilbury Mini vs. Ulta’s 401).
• The Competitive Reality:
  • Amazon leverages deep discounts (reportedly 67 %+ off some items) to capture price-sensitive shoppers.
  • Ulta effectively uses affordable alternatives, coupling them with their surging ATF visibility to make these options highly discoverable.

The Implication: While assortment breadth and review authority are valuable, they aren’t enough. Product content, perceived value, and discoverability (driven by ATF visibility) are converting intent into action for competitors.

Strategic Path Forward: Sephora’s Plan to Lead Again

This isn’t just a visibility dip—it’s a strategic signal requiring decisive action. To lead in the next chapter of beauty search, Sephora must prioritize search-centric execution across key fronts:

1. Reclaim ATF Visibility: Double down on optimizing feed health, refining product titles for search intent, ensuring GTIN accuracy, and leveraging structured data to win richer, top-of-page placements.
2. Fight Smart Against Amazon: Offset discount depth not with price matching, but with compelling value propositions: exclusive bundles, enhanced loyalty perks, unique kits, and gift-with-purchase incentives.
3. Match Ulta’s Timing Mastery: Evolve planning rhythms. Launch agile micro-campaigns that mirror consumer intent spikes and demand cycles, not just broad seasonal trends. Become more adaptive.
4. Turn Ratings into Revenue: Actively leverage Sephora’s review dominance. Enhance SERP snippets with rich content showcasing ratings and review counts prominently, and integrate UGC more visually where possible.

The Executive Imperative: Search Is the Signal

Search visibility has evolved—it’s no longer just a marketing KPI. It’s a leading indicator of market strength, brand momentum, and competitive posture. Sephora’s recent dip is not a defeat—it’s a strategic signal. But reclaiming dominance will demand more than siloed fixes. It requires cross-functional alignment—from merchandising to performance marketing, pricing to tech.

In today’s omnichannel retail battlefield, visibility equals viability.

Sephora doesn’t just need to catch up. It must lead—again.

At GrowByData, we help enterprise leaders turn search intelligence into a strategic advantage. For Sephora—and brands like it—realigning digital visibility with growth objectives isn’t optional. It’s the roadmap to winning the next wave of consumer demand.