CEW's Current State of Beauty Event

We attended the CEW hosted event with Creighton Kiper, Walmart’s VP of Beauty, as the keynote, and wanted to share a our key findings that may be useful for our friends at beauty retailers and brands (and beyond).  

From a content perspective, the common themes echoed many we’re all hearing:

• Democratization of Beauty
• Inclusivity 
• Personalization
  
  

A few interesting nuggets included:

• Beauty is a strategic focus for Walmart, so much so it's in their Top 5 priority categories.
• Walmart has seen an influx of consumers with household income greater than $100k and offer brands at all ends of the price spectrum to appeal to all income levels. 
• SpaceNK was referenced at the upper tier – as well as the opportunity to “grow prestige” at Walmart
• Also referenced was a clean beauty line of products all priced under $10 to ensure that “clean beauty is accessible to all.”
• Brick & Mortar (B&M) will focus on layout, location and labor – we should expect to see more Beauty Shops inside Walmart's.
• Ecommerce is growing fast, outpacing B&M, and a key focus for the business given the marketplace and breadth of products they sell online.
• Data, as you’d expect, is everything – and they share it with vendors to ensure products match consumer preferences/trends. 
• They see “beauty tech” as essential for success in the future and mentioned that the risk is high if you get it wrong in the beauty category – it’s a hit to a customer’s wallet AND confidence; it's interesting that the emotional end state is top of mind.