Dive Brief:
- In another celebrity partnership, Walmart on Monday announced that it is distributing 4U by Tia, a hair care line founded by actress and entrepreneur Tia Mowry. Synthetic biotech company Amyris helped launch 4U by Tia and, the brand will operate within Amyris’ portfolio, according to a press release.
- Walmart will distribute the hair care line across more than 2,800 of its U.S. locations and on its website. The hair care brand will also be available on the 4UbyTia.com site, per the announcement.
- The product line is created for curly hair ranging from 2A to 4C textures and does not contain silicone, sulfate or parabens. The product also is formulated with a patented ingredient called Hemi15, which nourishes and protects textured hair, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Walmart has added another DTC brand to its lineup.
Traditional retailers — ranging from mass merchants like Walmart and Target, to department stores like Nordstrom — have been steadily adding DTC brands to their assortments to lure more shoppers into stores and remain relevant with consumers.
Walmart went on a buying spree, snapping up DTC brands like Eloquii, Bare Necessities and ModCloth over the years — though has back tracked on its e-commerce strategy, selling off some of those brands more recently.
Still, it’s continued to add DTC brands to its assortment through partnerships. In 2021, Walmart inked a partnership with Bubble, a digitally native skincare brand, to sell clay masks, toners, cleansers and other products in 3,800 stores.
The partnership with Mowry also adds to Walmart’s growing list of celebrity brands. In 2019, the retailer launched Hello Bello, an infant product line with wipes, diapers and other products, in collaboration with actress Kristen Bell and her husband, Dax Shepard.
Besides rolling out direct-to-consumer brands in stores, Walmart has also been cultivating emerging beauty brands within its accelerator program, Walmart Start. Last August, the retailer chose five brands for its cohort of Walmart Start participants. One selected brand, Pardon My Fro, said at the time that it would sell its debut beauty product line exclusively with Walmart.
The 4U by Tia product line is the fifth brand that Amyris has launched in Walmart stores and is the company’s “deepest collaboration to date” between the two, Amyris CEO and president John Melo said in a statement. The collaboration is part of its effort to reach a broader customer base, Melo added. The company said in a statement that its products have reached over 300 million consumers.
“Tia identified a need to simplify her hair journey which blossomed into her co-developing amazing products for the wavy, curly and coily customers,” Danélle Jackson-Howard and Lynn Nestor, Walmart beauty merchants, said in a statement. “Adding 4U by Tia to our assortment supports our strategy in delivering a modern haircare line enriched with innovative ingredients at a compelling price point.”
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Tatiana Walk-Morris, Khareem Sudlow
