The retailer drew attention on social media this week for its use of automated license plate readers at some locations as the technology has drawn widespread public criticism.
Kaarin Vembar/Retail Dive
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Social media users flooded Ulta Beauty’s Instagram posts this week sharing their frustration about the company’s work with surveillance technology provider Flockafter a campaign by activist organizationUltraViolet went viral.
Ulta Beauty uses automated license plate readers from Flock in some of its store locations, a
The technology is deployed at less than 1% of Ulta’s storefleet nationwide, which has a total of around 1,500 locations. The cameras do not use facial recognition, the
Flock has garneredwidespread public criticismof its technology in recent months, with vandalism of the license plate readers growing.Some local and state governmentsare reconsidering the installation of Flock’s technologies.
Ulta did not respond to questions about when its relationship with Flock began. Flock did not respond to Retail Dive’s questions about its relationship with Ulta.
Retail crime remains a focus for industry groups, with the National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association pushing forfederal legislation to combatorganized theft.
Flocklists organized retail crimeas a use case for its technology on its website, saying that companies can “add known offenders to LPR custom hotlists and get alerted immediately when they enter” parking lots.
In a blog post from April of last year, Flock highlighted how its license plate readercameras helped in the arrest of suspects by the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia linked to organized retail crime at multiple Ulta stores.
Flock’s AI chatbot on its website describes Ulta as “one of Flock Safety’s retail partners, utilizing our technology to help identify repeat offenders and prevent fraud,” when asked if the beauty retailer is a customer.
Ulta’s director of organized retail crime, Rory Stallard, noted the retailer had seen increased violence in stores after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to arecap post from Flock Forward’sAugust 2025 event.
“We were looking for technology that would help us bridge the gap and collaborate [with law enforcement],” Stallard said, according to Flock’s blog post from Aug. 14 of last year. “It really centered around our company culture and protecting our associates and our guests. So, by taking some of the things that we were doing and leveraging some of that technology to help us solve crimes faster, we can eliminate some of these bad actors from being in our store, we can prevent [crime], and we can try to be more proactive versus reactive. Flock really fit the bill for some of the things that we wanted to be able to do.”
Stallard alsoattended a Flock Forward conference last month, per a now-deleted LinkedIn postwhere he expressed appreciation for the event’s opportunity to network with law enforcement and private sector connections.
Flockupdated its terms and conditionsin August amid growing public criticism over the use of its technology across the U.S.
Filed Under:Operations,Technology
