By Thomas Paulson, Head of Market Insights Ulta Beauty reported a comp-sales increase for Q4 of +1.5%, driven by a +3.0% increase in average ticket and a -1.4% decrease in comp-transactions. Removing the lift from ecommerce sales, store comp-sales increased modestly, suggesting a slight decline in store comp-transactions. Advan estimates that store comp-traffic increased +0.3%; if true, that would imply a modest decrease in the store conversion rate; that’s not unexpected given a more cautious consumer environment and substantial competitive encroachment on the retailer from Amazon and Sephora.