Dive Brief:
- Vying for Gen Z's attention, DTC skincare brand Bubble are now available on the aisles of 3,800 Walmart stores nationwide and on Walmart.com, the companies announced separately.
- Bubble's products — including clay masks, toners and cleansers — are primarily geared for younger skin, per Walmart's announcement. The prices of individual Bubble products range from $12 to $19.
- The brand drew a lot of attention from teens shortly after its launch in November after Hyram Yarbro, a skincare guru with over 4 million subscribers on YouTube, approved of the brand.
Dive Insight:
The partnership is a strategic decision on both Walmart and Bubble's part.
By carrying Bubble products, Walmart is expanding its reach to a younger consumer group. For Bubble, this retail partnership makes its products more accessible to its target audience. More than 90% of Americans live within 10 miles from a Walmart location, said Walmart beauty merchant Julia Turley.
"We've known since launch that buying online is a challenge for people, whether they didn't have their own credit card or because their parents didn't trust an online-only brand they hadn't heard of," Shai Eisenman, founder of Bubble, said in a Q&A with Turley. "Being in Walmart stores really makes the product more inclusive and accessible."
Accessibility is a key part of why several DTC brands have sought partnerships with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Casper, for instance, has partnered with retailers like Nordstrom, Target and Sam's Club.
Walmart has formed several DTC partnerships of its own, including with healthcare DTC startup Ro and feminine hygiene brand Lola, which sold over 10 million products through the retailer in half a year, Retail Brew reported last September.
Additionally, retailers have increasingly seen value in tapping into the Gen Z market. Nordstrom acquired a minority stake in Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands earlier this month. Etsy recently completed its acquisition of apparel resale site Depop for $1.63 billion.
