Five Indie Beauty Brands Launching in Walmart

Uoma by Sharon C. 

Available at Walmart. Prices range from $6 to $24.

Sharon Chuter is no stranger to forward thinking, having founded Uoma Beauty and the Pull Up for Change campaign. Her next frontier? Accessibility, which she’s aiming to address with a mass-market sister line to her first beauty brand. “My brand is currently hailed as inclusive, but anyone who knows me knows I’m gonna call even my own bulls–t,” Chuter said. “No beauty brand comes in every color, every lifestyle or any budget….I really wanted to create a space where everybody could actually feel welcome.”

Chuter launched Uoma by Sharon C with six stock keeping units last month in a whopping 3,365 Walmart doors. “They service 90 percent of America. It’s extremely democratic, and people go there for many different reasons. Wide distribution was important to me,” Chuter said.

The six debut skus units include the Go Awf! 2 In 1 Water-Activated Cleansing Wipes, Go Awf! Au Natural Cleansing Oil, Supa’Natural Glow Vitamin C Serum, It’s Complicated Glossy Lip Tint & Oil, Flawless IRL Foundation and Badder Boom Volumizing Mascara. Industry sources estimate the brand will reach $40 million in retail sales for its first year on the market.

Bubble

Available at Walmart. Prices range from $12 to $19.

When Shai Eisenman founded Bubble as a d-to-c skin care brand that catered to teenage and Gen Z skin concerns, her first move was to turn to her consumer. “We’ve worked with over 6,000 teens to create Bubble,” Eisenman said.

To that end, as part of the brand’s robust data collection among cohorts of young consumers, she discovered 82 percent of teenagers prefer to purchase products in store, and 41 percent of them go to Walmart at least several times monthly. When selecting Bubble’s retail partner, the decision was obvious, Eisenman said.

The brand debuted last week at Walmart with seven products, from cleansers and toners to moisturizers and a mask. Eisenman prioritized keeping prices below $20, and the gender-inclusive skus have piqued Gen Z’s interest. Industry sources estimate the Bubble will hit $20 million in retail sales in 2022.

“This is specifically skin care for young skin. There’s always been a category for antiaging, but teens aren’t looking for antiaging features, they need products that will clear and balance their skin,” Eisenman said.

Monday Haircare

Available at Walmart for $6.

When Monday Haircare launched in its native New Zealand, it was given the nickname “liquid gold” for its precious appeal and scarcity driven by constant sell-outs. The brand, which came Stateside at the beginning of 2021, has scaled up its business to enter the world’s largest retailer to keep up with the craze.

Although Monday Haircare initially launched at Target and Ulta Beauty, Walmart helped the brand democratize premium hair care, said founder Jaimee Lupton. “A lot of brands have an idea of an ideal customer, and they put them in a bit of a box,” Lupton said. “Because we’re available so widely and so affordably, our brand is for absolutely everyone.

“We’ve proven that affordable hair care isn’t what it used to be — ours is an award-winning, premium-quality product that just happens to be stocked at walmart.com,” Lupton continued.

Consumers are responding well, and industry sources expect the brand to hit $100 million at retail by year’s end.

Lupton, herself a p.r. veteran, also lauded the evolving assortment at Walmart. “Along with more premium, traditional names such as Nars and Estée Lauder, Walmart has really great positioning in carrying those more affordable but just-as-loved beauty brands,” she said.

Health by Habit

Available at Walmart for $8.88.

Bringing wellness to the masses may have been Health by Habit’s goal when it launched its ingestibles last year in New Zealand, but when coming into Walmart as it expands into the U.S., the brand is eyeing Gen Z consumers.

“We thought if we target a niche — given the scale of Walmart and the U.S. as a whole — and double down to own that space, there’s no other brand that’s going to be able to do that,” said Liam Whittaker, product and operations director at Health by Habit.

The brand, which entered Walmart last month, has centered its nine products on solutions for younger consumers, as opposed to the single-ingredient supplements of the past.

“There’s a trend nowadays toward people moving away from individual vitamins and toward herbalist wellness solutions. We saw an opportunity to go and create a range of products, which basically provided solutions to modern-day problems, whether it’s lacking energy, wanting an increase in immunity, or better skin and nails,” Whittaker said.

If early projections are any indication, the brand’s play at younger consumers is a success. Industry sources think Health by Habit could hit $20 million in retail sales in its first year.

Luna Magic

Available at Walmart. Prices range from $8 to $20.

Luna Magic might have only launched two years ago, but after an appearance on “Shark Tank” and receiving the Glossier grant for Black-owned businesses, cofounders and sisters Mabel and Shaira Frías have proven the brand’s staying power.

Luna Magic’s full assortment, 21 products spanning lashes, eye shadows and pencils, was made available last week in 405 Walmart doors. It is also merchandised on the retailer’s first bilingual endcap, the sisters said.

“When we look at our brand and the content we put out, it’s all about this dual world my sister and I live in,” Mabel Frías said. “We are Latina, but we are American because we have this flair, and we identify with the Black diaspora. We are our consumer, and we wanted to figure out a way to connect with her in two languages.”

Given Mabel Frías’ time as a director of digital merchandising at Savage x Fenty prior to cofounding the line, she’s no stranger to driving decisions with data. “The 405 doors were a strategic bet on our end to make sure we’re looking at the data to see which stores are multicultural, where Latina and African American women spend a lot of money on cosmetics,” she said.

Industry sources estimate the brand’s retail sales will hit between $5 million and $10 million in 2022.

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