For the Wellness Briefing, Glossy is reporting from our annual E-Commerce Summit, where brand leaders from Ulta Beauty, Supergoop!, SharkNinja, Tarte, Sephora, Beekman1802 and more shared tactics and tips to supercharge brand success with AI tools. Additionally, \u014cura drops its smallest tracker ring yet, Unilever invests $270 million in a new Connecticut R&D hub, Vladimir Putin invests $26 billion into longevity research, and Planet Fitness scales.<\/p>\n
Brand leaders share the winning tactics to implement AI into day-to-day workflows<\/p>\n
Glossy\u2019s annual E-Commerce Summit kicked off on Monday in Miami Beach with panels, fireside chats and town hall discussions on the latest strategies driving industry growth online.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline internal operations was a main theme discussed during the first two days of the conference. \u201cEveryone\u2019s afraid that AI is coming for their jobs,\u201d David Baker, chief digital officer of Beekman 1802, said during a panel on the topic. \u201cI firmly do not believe that AI is coming for anyone\u2019s job, but someone who knows how to use AI is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker\u2019s point resonated with many industry insiders who feel the challenge of onboarding new systems and training employees in the latest AI tools. Some brands have opted for daily, bite-sized lessons, while others have embraced week-long intensive training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks ago, we actually shut down every single office, and we hosted a \u2018hack week,\u2019 where all we did was [AI],\u201d Julie Bailey Blanche, Shark Beauty\u2019s vp of global marketing, said during a fireside chat. \u201cWe spent an entire week \u2014\u00a0no meetings, no calls, no retailer visits, no nothing. We built tools, and we had experts come in and teach us how to code. We did a year\u2019s worth of work in one week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The week of all-day training was mandatory for Shark Ninja employees, Blanche told Glossy, and revolved around reducing day-to-day busy work and rudimentary training to ensure employees don\u2019t get left behind. Shark Ninja grew by 15.6% in Q1 2026 to reach $1.4 billion in sales during the quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alternatively, many brand leaders told Glossy that they\u2019ve added daily AI discussions to ease workers into AI tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m constantly telling my team, \u2018If it takes you longer than 15 minutes to do something, there\u2019s a faster way, and you should learn and try to figure it out via AI,’\u201d Jenna Manula Linares, vp of digital marketing at Tarte Cosmetics, said during a panel. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any formal training in place at Tarte, but we\u2019re creating a culture of experimentation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To keep Tarte staffers accountable for this experimentation, Linares does weekly check-ins. \u201cEvery week, I challenge my team to use AI in a new or different way,\u201d she said. \u201cIn our weekly team meetings, we set aside 15 minutes at the very end, and we go around in a circle, and we call on each person, and they have to explain to the group how they leveraged AI and if it was beneficial or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, there are those that resist AI in all its forms, brand leaders told Glossy. \u201cWe have incredible tools at our disposal, and someone choosing not to use them? That becomes a business risk,\u201d Baker said. At Beekman 1802, Baker is focused on finding first adopters to lead the charge. \u201cFirst and foremost, it\u2019s finding the people who have an interest in it, and giving them the room and space to play,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ulta Beauty lands somewhere in the middle. \u201cWe do have a little bit of training on how to use a couple of different tools, but it\u2019s really peer-to-peer training,\u201d Josh Friedman, svp of digital and e-commerce at Ulta Beauty, said. \u201cSharing [knowledge with colleagues in a formalized way] is really the best way [to learn]. \u2026 Hearing how your peer is doing it at the desk next to you, or someone across the hall who might be doing a different job, is just the easiest way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at a town hall discussion, brand leaders spoke anonymously about their challenges with the implementation of various AI programs. The consensus in the room was clear on Day 1: Anthropic\u2019s Claude is the most dynamic interface to train employees on, yet many legacy brands have resisted it in favor of Microsoft\u2019s Copilot.\u00a0However, many brand leaders, in an effort to save budget on preferred programs like Claude, first instruct staffers to refine requests using a secondary AI platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cCopilot is great for some of the more internal operations, [such as] financial things. But really, when it comes to creative and marketing, we really haven\u2019t unlocked it yet,\u201d said one executive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another executive shared that their team is well-versed on Claude and OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT, thanks to using it in their personal lives, which created a hurdle for compliance using leadership-recommended Copilot. One brand leader shared that they train employees to handle Microsoft-specific things on Copilot, while quietly allowing staffers to utilize alternatives in the background.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCopilot does Excel really well, so if you need to build a financial model or just leverage it for like quick data analysis, it\u2019s pretty strong in that respect \u2014\u00a0but definitely not concepting, ideation or research,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n
News to know:<\/p>\n
\u014cura, the Finnish market leader for health tracker rings, released a fifth iteration of its tracker ring that\u2019s 40% smaller than its 4th version. The new \u014cura ring 5 is also waterproof and comes with several new software upgrades. It starts at $399. \u201cBy reimagining Oura Ring 5 to be smaller and easier to wear, and pairing it with our most advanced software yet, we\u2019re making it possible for many more people to wear Oura every day \u2014\u00a0and to benefit from the personalized, predictive health insights that come with it,\u201d Tom Hale<\/a>, CEO at Oura, said in a statement. The company is valued at $11 billion thanks to record sales over the past two years<\/a> on its \u014cura ring.<\/p>\n Move over, Bryan Johnson<\/a>. Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin is making headlines this week for reportedly investing $26 billion into anti-aging sciences that include peptides, gene therapy and experimental research like bio-printing human organs. Putin garnered headlines last year for reportedly having a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping about achieving immortality through organ replacement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Planet Fitness will soon expand in the Pacific Northwest. Last week, one of the company\u2019s biggest franchisees, Easy Mile Fitness, announced its plans to invest $30 million in new Planet Fitness locations in Oregon, including Bend and Eugene. Its first Portland location will open in the now-shuttered Nike Community Store in Portland. Nike closed its boutique fitness concept, Nike Studios, earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking of Nike, the sportswear heavyweight announced its next in-person fitness concept in late May. It centers around a partnership with The Yard Gym, the fast-growing Australian gym chain, to be Nike\u2019s first \u201cglobal Nike training partner.\u201d The two companies will co-create training experiences, activations and community events, according to Nike.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wellness industry\u2019s vaginal health category is growing. Evvy, a 5-year-old telehealth company focused on at-home vaginal microbiome testing and care, released an AI-powered advisor to help users navigate care. According to the company, it has the largest proprietary vaginal microbiome dataset available.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stat of the week:<\/p>\n Unilever is investing $270 million in a new research center in Connecticut. The company will use the new facility to drive innovation and product development for its beauty, wellness and personal-care business. The conglomerate hopes to have the facility open in 2029.<\/p>\n In the headlines:<\/p>\n AI earbuds engineer better sleep [Fitt Insider<\/a>]. How Nocturnal Skincare created a spring campaign for under $100 [Modern Retail<\/a>]. What actually increases your energy? The Buck Institute just figured it out [Super Age<\/a>]. Snack workouts are the solution to being active in a time crunch [Vogue<\/a>]. These tiny, mighty kid influencers are changing the face of fitness [NYT<\/a>]. Gwyneth Paltrow suggests using arugula as a dairy substitute on Today and the internet can\u2019t leaf it alone [Today<\/a>]. 64% of personal trainers are using or exploring AI [ATN<\/a>].\u00a0<\/p>\n Listen in:\u00a0<\/p>\n Is agentic shopping the next big thing in beauty? Sephora and Ulta are betting yes. In this week\u2019s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast<\/a>, Glossy editors Lexy Lebsack, Emily Jensen and Sara Spruch-Feiner discuss Sephora\u2019s and Ulta\u2019s recent investments in AI, and how agentic shopping is poised to evolve in the beauty industry.<\/p>\n Need a Glossy recap?<\/p>\n Why brands are running to Strava<\/a>. Where is there still white space<\/a> in beauty? Stitch Fix<\/a> CEO Matt Baer on why AI can supplement, but not replace, human stylists. Why retailers like Target and Aerie<\/a> are moving beyond straight affiliate deals with creators. The athlete influencer economy<\/a> is now operating at scale. With J.Crew\u2019s new Timex collab<\/a>, watches are starting to follow the hype sneaker model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the Wellness Briefing, Glossy is reporting from our annual E-Commerce Summit, where brand leaders from Ulta Beauty,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,20582,20583],"class_list":["post-60146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-glossy","tag-plus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}