Dive Brief:
- Will Perform, the DTC pain relief and performance care brand co-founded by tennis legend Serena Williams, launched Friday on Walmart.com and is headed to Walmart stores in June.
- Introduced as a direct-to-consumer brand in December, Will Perform products will be sold in over 3,000 Walmart stores beginning next month, according to a release sent to Retail Dive.
- Adding Walmart to its current retail mix will more than double Will Perform’s brick-and-mortar footprint, placing it in almost 5,000 doors as it continues to quickly expand. The brand previously launched on Target’s website and in 1,900 of the retailer’s stores.
Dive Insight:
The Will Perform Collection consists of six products spanning four categories: Relieve, Cool, Soothe and Rest. All retail for under $20, according to the company.
Walmart.com is carrying all SKUs, while the stores will offer three: the Will Relieve Lidocaine Pain Relief Roll-On, Will Relieve Lidocaine Pain Relief Spray and Will Rest Nightly Muscle Recovery Lotion.
“We are thoughtfully expanding our retail footprint to support our strategy to evolve the recovery category to that of performance care,” Will Perform co-founder and CEO Hank Mercier said in a statement. “As a leading national retailer that champions accessibility and has a strong foundation in the recovery space, we are thrilled to collaborate with Walmart to help us do this.”
Drawing from her 20 years as the world’s top female tennis player, Williams developed Will Perform around the idea of recovery being just as important as performance on the courts.
"Recovery has played an integral role in my performance and professional success,” Williams said in a statement. “It's a practice that can benefit anyone with an active lifestyle. That belief is what inspired us to develop a line of products that targets your muscles and can be incorporated into your daily self-care routine."
Will Perform’s deal with Walmart is yet another instance of digitally native brands seeking to expand their presence and attract new customers by selling through a major brick-and-mortar chain with wide, national distribution and marketing prowess. Among the DTC brands that recently launched at Walmart were Inkbox, Grove Collaborative, and Revolution Beauty.
As part of its e-commerce strategy, Walmart had bought several digitally native brands. However, more recently the mass merchant has walked back on that strategy and has offloaded many of them, including Jet.com, Moosejaw, ModCloth and Bonobos.
