Watch out, Sephora and Ulta Beauty: Walmart is entering the spring sales arena. The mega-retailer's Spring Beauty Sale runs from April 18 to May 31, 2025. (Sephora's Spring Savings Event was held from April 4 to April 14, while Ulta Beauty's Spring Haul Event lasted nine days from March 28 to April 5).
In addition to the six-week-long sale, Walmart is upping the ante even further this year by introducing Beauty Bars in 40 select stores. The pilot program is designed to help customers explore new products, talk to beauty experts, and test samples in person. Online, Walmart will spotlight trending brands with elevated shopping experiences and editorial storytelling.
Walmart boasts significant reach and accessibility, with roughly 90% of the US population residing within a 10-mile radius of one of its stores.
"Our beauty customers are as diverse as the country itself—from teens just learning to care for their skin, to busy parents trying to do it all, to women navigating perimenopause and beyond," Vinima K Shekhar, Vice President of Beauty at Walmart, said of the retailer's beauty shoppers in a company press release. "They’re savvy. They mix basics with premium. And they’re asking for more—more personalization, more transparency, and more options that meet their needs, their budgets, and their lives."
Walmart's Beauty Event includes over 1,800 deals across trending brands in skincare, cosmetics, hair, and accessories. In the past year, Walmart added over 40 premium brands to its beauty assortment, including Color Wow, La Roche-Posay, Kenra, and TULA. The retailer also launched new pathways for emerging brands like Maison 276, Nappy Styles, Lattafa, and Kativa through programs like Walmart Start, its beauty accelerator program.
The omnichannel retailer aims to be "the most trusted and accessible beauty destination for everyone, at every stage of life." Over the last few years, the retail giant has made significant investments to attract beauty consumers. In spring 2022, Walmart followed the lead of Target and Kohl's, forming a strategic partnership with SpaceNK to tap the premium beauty opportunity. In 2023, the retailer introduced AI try-on technology, which is now available on Walmart's iOS app and in color product categories. Last year, Walmart doubled down on the premium beauty space with the expansion into Premium Beauty on its Marketplace in an effort to turn Walmart into a top beauty destination.
In a fireside chat at BeautyMatter's 2024 FUTURE50 event, Kerry Robinson, SVP of Beauty and Personal Care at Walmart, and Shai Eisenman, founder and CEO of Bubble Skincare, shared that Walmart is the number one retailer for Gen Alpha. Piper Sandler's latest survey on teen spending marks the first time teen boys were included in its beauty shopping destination analysis and revealed that 7% prefer Walmart.
Despite Walmart joining the trend of beauty shop-in-shop activations, other retailers have recently slowed down their initiatives. Earlier this month, Ulta Beauty's CEO Kecia Steelman stated that the beauty retailer is hitting the pause button on its Target shop-in-shop expansion to concentrate on enhancing efficiency at its current 600+ locations.
With a recession seeming imminent and online retail channels like Amazon and TikTok Shop making it easier than ever for shoppers to discover and purchase products, beauty retailers have to do more to attract beauty consumers. Discounting is a major draw for customers, especially during times of economic uncertainty, although not all retailers are on board with this strategy.
During LVMH's Q1 2025 earnings call, Cécile Cabanis, Chief Financial Officer of LVMH, blamed Amazon for Sephora's declining online momentum due to its "aggressive" pricing strategy. LVMH reported revenue of $23.1 billion for the first three months of the year, down 3% compared to the same period last year.
Unlike Sephora, Walmart embraces discounting and aims to be an accessible beauty destination, which is what sets it apart from its retail peers. With its recent expansion into premium beauty, Walmart is well-positioned to appeal to a wider range of consumers and potentially steal market share from both Sephora and Ulta Beauty.
