Dive Brief:
- To enhance its beauty assortment, Target is introducing “thousands” of new products this month, the retailer announced Thursday. The company is bringing on an undisclosed number of new Black-owned and inclusive brands, and adding more products that fit its Target Clean standards for ingredient transparency.
- Among the brands the retailer is introducing by underrepresented entrepreneurs are Vamigas, a Latina-owned skin care brand; AfroPick, a Black-owned hair care brand; and Gainful and Saltair, both Asian American and Pacific Islander-owned brands, the retailer said.
- Most of the new products available are priced at less than $10, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Beyond traditional skin care and hair care products, Target said it is also integrating health products, such as probiotics and vitamins, under the broadening spectrum of wellness products. Other brands and retailers have been expanding into ingestible and topical beauty products to capture shoppers seeking self-care.
“Self-care is one of the areas where we are seeing the fastest growth,” Cassandra Jones, senior vice president of merch essentials and beauty at Target, said in an announcement. “The idea of beauty products is expanding to include self-care, self-expression and health — and they all go hand in hand. So many ‘health’ items also relate to beauty, and vice versa. A good example is toothpaste. You might use it for plaque control (health) and teeth whitening (beauty).”
In addition to bringing more beauty and wellness products into its stores, Target has also tried to attract beauty consumers through its partnership with Ulta Beauty. In March last year, Ulta announced plans to open 250 more shop-in-shops in Target. Target executives in January said the company is focused on winning over customers with its private-label brands, diverse product assortment and new store concepts.
As Target looks to draw customers seeking self-care products, the retailer had mixed results during its third quarter in 2022. According to its Q3 earnings report, comparable sales rose 2.7%, but net profits dropped by more than half.
