Walmart Leans Into Beauty With Emphasis On Indie And Multi-Cultural Brands

Musab Balbale is reinventing Walmart’s beauty business one brand at a time. Collectively, more than 40 new labels have been added to the category, including an emphasis on indie brands and brands owned by people of color. Diversity underpins the assortment, with an emphasis on price and rapid replenishment.

The merchandising vice president for Walmart U.S. Beauty has a mandate to innovate and bring relevance to the aisles of the world’s largest store. That means turning beauty departments into destinations for Walmart shoppers who come for groceries but leave with a new lipstick or skin care regimen.

“It’s such a rapidly changing category between indie brands and heritage brands,’ Balbale said. “Definitely, the pandemic has changed things. Beauty certainly was one of the first categories we saw come back. After the initial shutdown, people were focused on their appearance, whether it was teeth whiteners or lipstick. Beauty can be a small indulgence.”

With the oldest Gen Z customers now 24, Walmart beauty recognizes the incredible opportunity to build brand loyalty by delivering the products they’re looking for. According to Kyra Media’s 2021 State of Beauty report, skincare is by far the most important segment for Gen Z within the beauty category.

Among the new brands Walmart is offering are C’est Moi, Dermageek, Erase Your Face, Evolution 18, Flawless, Fortify Plus, HanHoo, Mei Apothecary, Skin Proud, True Skin and VitaminSea Beauty.

“Multi-cultural brands are quite rapidly expanding, Balbale said, adding, “There are different ways to think about what multi-cultural means. It’s looking at who the brand serves and the audiences it’s connecting with.”

Walmart in July launched UOMA by Sharon C, which leverages the world’s largest retailer’s vast customer base and store fleet. The collection is available at more than 3,000 of Walmart’s 4,700 stores.

Created by Sharon Chuter, a beauty industry veteran, UOMA is “forward-thinking, radical and uncompromising,” Walmart said in announcing the brand. The range is inclusive of all skin tones.

“Walmart is sharply focused on offering products that excite our customers, so we’re thrilled to be adding UOMA by Sharon C exclusively to our lineup,” said Balbale. “We’re continuing to evolve Walmart as a beauty destination by expanding our assortment to make wow-worthy brands, like UOMA by Sharon C, accessible to everyone. Sharon’s new line is synonymous with inclusivity and quality and we’re proud to bring that to our customers.”

Next of Us hair care products are geared to Gen Z consumers with textured and curly hair, while SheaMoisture Men was launched for men of color. Walmart also offers Kim Kimble hair care from Beyonce’s stylist, and The Lip Bar by Melissa Butler, an African American entrepreneur. “It’s a very impressive list of brands that we’ve brought to the customer,” Balbale said.

“We know that we need to make beauty more cohesive,” Balbale added. “Our store experience reflects the evolution of where retail is going. There’s much more digital engagement in the stores. It’s an experience that’s able to delight customers while it delivers replenishment and ease of shopping. There’s a lot of work under way exploring how that might be amplified.

“One of the nice things about Walmart is that we had 185 million consumers coming into stores on weekly basis before the pandemic,” Balbale said. “The challenge in beauty is how do we bring her from other areas of the store. We know she’s shopping grocery on a weekly basis. Increasingly she’s looking at fashion and home and areas where Walmart is making strides. The mission is make it simpler to buy what she’s buying in the beauty space and also give her things to discover on her weekly shopping trip.”