Walmart introduces second class of its beauty brand accelerator, Walmart Start, featuring hair, skin and body care brands from diverse and women-owned businesses; it also announces expansion of Beauty Virtual Try-On technology and upcoming seasonal trends

Sample article from our Retail & Omnichannel

April 4, 2024 (press release) –

The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming and Walmart’s beauty assortment is getting a major glow up. We listen to our customers. And this season, we're offering items that are sure to put a spring in their step: on trend, affordable, awesome.

Walmart Start

Two years ago, we launched Walmart Start – our beauty brand accelerator program, which has quickly become one of my favorite initiatives. I love meeting with up-and-coming brands to help connect them with the tools and resources to succeed and scale at mass retail, and ultimately, successfully launch in-store and on Walmart.com.

Today, I’m excited to announce our second Walmart Start class, which features a vibrant group of hair, skin and body care brands from a variety of women- and diverse-owned founders.

Meet our new Walmart Start Class!

Current State – Current State, which was co-founded by Emily Parr and Majeed Hemmat, is a collection of nutritiously balanced and clinically responsive products created to make taking care of your skin as intuitive as eating a well-balanced diet.
LatinUS – Lu is a brand created for Latinas, existing to help all women feel empowered, confident and beautiful. The brand’s formulas are powered by a proprietary technology created to give you "Healthier hair from the first use."
Kazmaleje – Kazmaleje is your go-to brand for innovative haircare tools and accessories. Sisters LaToya, LaTasha and LaTrice Stirrup took a chance and launched KurlsPlus Detanglers – three uniquely designed hair tools that leverage the idea of finger detangling into a comb.
Sundae Body – Founded by Lizzie Waley, Sundae Body offers body care products to whip your everyday shower routine into a joyful activity that makes you smile, feel good and savor the moment.
Stay tuned for even more!

You can shop select Walmart Start brands as soon as today on Walmart.com and in select Walmart stores.

Last year’s inaugural Walmart Start class, which featured the next big names in beauty, including Dossier, The Hair Lab by Strands, Pardon My Fro and PaintLab, have already made a splash! I’m excited to share that all the brands have launched in more stores or extended their product count at Walmart. We’re thrilled to see their business grow at Walmart.

Brands interested in the Walmart Start program can keep an eye open for applications for our next Walmart Start class on the Walmart Start homepage. New to the application process this year, brands not selected for Walmart Start may qualify for program discounts or referral fee discounts to help them onboard and get started on Walmart Marketplace.

Beauty Virtual Try-On

Earlier this month, we announced the latest expansion to Walmart’s Beauty Virtual Try-On technology, launching nearly 500 hair color products that can now be “tried on” via Walmart’s iOS app. The innovative tools allow beauty enthusiasts to experiment with various hair colors to find their perfect shades in real-time, creating a personalized experience within a user-friendly digital platform.

Beauty Glow Up

Back for another year, Walmart’s Beauty Glow Up savings event is returning to offer customers another opportunity to stock up on their favorite brands and products, at incredible savings. Now through April 28, beauty lovers can shop hundreds of Rollbacks in stores, and even more on Walmart.com – including products from major skin, hair and cosmetics brands like Olive & June, Bubble, Evo & Avo, Schwarzkopf, Cantu and so much more.

Upcoming seasonal trends

Our customers count on Walmart to help them bring to life the latest beauty trends. Here’s what we’re expecting to spring up over the next few months, along with some of my team’s favorite products this season:

The “skinification” of hair continues to be a hit with Walmart Beauty customers, with more products featuring key ingredients from the skin care world – like Hairitage’s new Damage Repair line – popping up on our shelves to treat a variety of haircare needs.
What’s more groundbreaking than floral for spring? Bold lips! Expect to see bright pink and orange lip colors and glosses this season.
Who has time to go to the nail salon anymore? With brands like Kiss, OPI and Olive & June delivering on-trend press-on nails, customers can get a shiny, salon-quality look for less.
Skin care continues to reign supreme. Customers are shopping across a variety of brands – from indies like Bubble to mass brands like Cerave, and customers are mixing and matching within their regimen. We’re building our assortment to align with the interests of younger customers who are driving growth across this category.

Are you ready to refresh?

I’m excited to see how our customers update their beauty collections this spring to include the new and innovative offerings we’ve rolled out so far this year. Start shopping and saving on the Walmart newness now – in stores, in the app and online: Walmart.com/beauty.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.