for Beauty and Personal Care, talked with Beauty
Insider about curating assortments by community,
beauty’s big growth opportunity and how the world’s largest retailer stays
nimble.
Beauty Insider: How would
you describe Walmart’s beauty merchandising strategy?
Carmen Bauza: When it comes to merchandising, Walmart is focused on offering a broad assortment of products at everyday low prices. We’re specifically working in beauty to provide Good, Better and Best options,which is resonating well with our customers. With Good, customers value the opening price point; with Better, we offer mid-tier brands; with Best, there are items that give a halo to the overall category.
BI: Are there any plans to highlight or separate the Best
brands from the others, as we are seeing in other retailers?
CB: We do not separate our Best brands from Good and Better.What we try to do first and foremost is create an inviting environment for our customers. Where we add value to their shopping experience is by helping educate consumers by providing additional information about the products on the shelf.
BI: It’s all about customization and curating these days—especially
in beauty. How is Walmart demonstrating that?
CB: We’re working hard to provide locally-relevant products to our customers, catering to their specific needs in each region and community. We look at demographics store by store and neighborhood by neighborhood. Most importantly we listen to our customers. We understand that focusing on the needs of a community is the way of the future. The generalist point of view no longer works.
BI: How are you merging online and the customer
experience?
CB: Our customers are shopping differently than they ever have before. They’re using their mobile devices to search for products and compare prices. Also, our customers shop with their eyes and relate to what they see, so we’re leveraging photos and illustrations at all touch points. For example, any time we have an event, a new product launch or we’re doing something seasonal, the imagery online mirrors the in-store displays providing a seamless experience from our stores to our website.
BI: What have you learned about Walmart’s online beauty
shopper?
CB: Mobile is becoming more and more prevalent for our shoppers. And although many of them view and research beauty products online, they still like being able to see it in stores. We’re in a unique position to provide our customers with both shopping experiences.With online, it’s always interesting to see what she’s searching for. So we continue to see what she wants, the brands she’s looking for and the price points she’s looking at. It’s a great education for us.
BI: Prestige continues to trend upward in terms of
monthly sales gains. Is a lack of innovation impacting the mass market’s slow recovery
to the recession?
CB: No, we have not seen a slowdown, in fact, I see a lot more innovation especially at Walmart. We had a good second quarter and our beauty business was a strong part of that.
in beauty, i.e. Hard Candy and Physician’s Formula Skin Care?
CB: Yes, that’s something you will see more of in
2013. We will be ready to announce our spring partnerships soon.
Stay tuned.
BI: Does Walmart’s beauty sales gains reflect market
trends?
CB: One trend that is certainly reflected in our sales is nail. It is one of the fastest growing segments and an area where we are definitely setting the trend. The minute we started to see momentum in certain colors and styles on social media sites such as Pinterest and Facebook, we responded in a big way. W’ere proud to be able to offer our customers the same trendy colors and styles they want without stretching their pocket books.
BI: Please talk
about promotions for holiday 2012.
CB: We like to believe we gift better than anyone in the industry. We have hundreds of SKUs across beauty to appeal to any person on her list. We’re really excited about our beauty items for holiday this year. We have stocking stuffers starting at a $1 and $29 bath baskets and fragrance gift sets. We know our customers are watching their spending, shopping with a list and are short on time, so we’re making it easy for her by offering the convenience of a one-stop shop.
BI: There’s been a lot of conversation this year about
women succeeding in the workforce. I’m wondering about Walmart’s contributions
on this front?
CB: Last fall we announced a commitment to strengthen the role of women across our business and our supply chain. Through our Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative, we’ve set goals that build on this commitment including increasing the amount we buy from women-owned businesses. One great success story is from Tam Tran, based in Miami, who invented Anise cosmetics, a trend forward polish and treatment line. We’ve been working with her to build her business and product offerings. She started with two nail treatment items, and now she’s up to seven SKUs in our stores. She brought new and unique innovation, such as the brightening and shine nail treatment in our stores this fall.
