Walmart ramps up efforts to become the next indie beauty hotspot

One recent weekend, he said, “I stood there for about eight hours. [worker]”I swear, I do research. I’m not just a creepy person,” she said.

Sulzer began gearing up for PaintLab’s Walmart debut after the brand was selected as one of five members of the major retailer’s Walmart Start beauty accelerator program in August. It’s his third brand in the program to ever enter a Walmart store, following custom hair care brand The Hair Lab and accessible fragrance startup Dossier. Hair care brand Pardon My Fro will launch around Valentine’s Day, and Undefined Beauty is still working with retailers to set a date.

Clayton Kipper, Walmart’s vice president of beauty merchandising, said indie beauty startups are a “top priority” for Walmart, and trendy startup brands are especially important to young millennials and Gen Z. I was.

“We know our younger customers are beauty enthusiasts.

Target has long been considered the go-to for discovering up-and-coming new brands, but Walmart is aiming for its place among Gen Z. The most popular brand, he has an 80% favorable rating, ahead of Target, Nike and Apple.

Diversity is also to appeal to younger generations, Kuiper said. “New hair types and new skin types are born every day. We know that more than 50% of his Gen Z customers are multicultural. If you look at Walmart, the next big brand is located in,” he said.

The Walmart Start brand joins 100 new beauty labels added to Walmart’s selection last year, following 69 launching in retail stores in 2021. AF94, Halsey’s diffusion line for her About-Face. and Dossier.

For Walmart’s brand roster growth this year, read: [it] We’re slowing down,” Kipper said.

Walmart’s big bet on beauty involves developing its brand roster on all fronts. Range of price points from affordable to luxury: Under his SpaceNK partnership of retailers launched last year, it sells luxury brands like Goldfaden MD, Philip B, Slip and Lancer.

PaintLab, on the other hand, has all their products under $10. The brand’s press-on nail designs, eye decals and colorful lashes will be showcased in full display cases in nearly 1,000 physical stores. Designs include several Walmart exclusives.

“You can’t go unnoticed by us when you walk by,” said Sulzer. “It’s going to be a scene.”

Prominent display cases are one way Walmart supports its accelerator brands. It also provides educational and networking opportunities for attendees, including talks and classes. Retailers focus on topics important to startups expanding distribution to large stores for the first time, including supply chain, volumes, forecasts and pack sizes.

Big conglomerates already familiar with these topics are also working with Walmart to launch new brands. But indie beauty brands have a distinct appeal for retailers.

They have the advantage of “agility and agility,” says Kiper.

For example, PaintLab’s team of five “can have a complete collection within a few weeks” after spotting a trend online, says Sulzer. Her Gen Z members of her staff monitor nail trends on TikTok and her Instagram. For example, the brand responded to Hailey Bieber’s “glazed donut” nail craze for summer by creating a set of sparkling pink press-ons. You can even notice it right away. Sulzer says her TikTok post about plaid nails by influencer Choi March (42,300 followers) garnered him 4.7 million views and more than 500,000 likes in 2022 In August 2018, sales of a set of checkered nails were said to have been “an insane week.”

Kiper added that indie brands also “usually have a very close relationship with their customers.” This is thanks to extensive research, including Sulzer’s field observations. For example, skincare brand Bubble conducts a large-scale survey of thousands of her Gen Z consumers.

Walmart plans to continue the accelerator program for another year, and details of the application will be made public soon, Kiper said, with more details to follow.