Walmart Concedes Beauty Market Share to Amazon

Beauty sales at generalist retailers have grown more than any other product category this year. H1 2023 Beauty sales at Amazon, Target, and Walmart have grown 24.3% to $18.5B. From 2019 to 2023, Beauty sales at generalist retailers have doubled and, despite market disturbances such as the pandemic and inflation, consumers show no sign of slowing down their spending on beauty products.

Yearly Beauty GMV, Amazon, Target & Walmart
United States | Online and B&M Sales | H1 2019 - 2023

But which retailer is catching the Beauty sales wave? Looking at Beauty GMV for H1 2019-2023, Walmart's in-store share has fallen 16 pp from 40.1% in 2019 to 24.2% in 2023. Although Walmart online’s share of Beauty sales has doubled from 1.6% in 2019 to 3.5% in 2023, it is nowhere near enough to reclaim the lost market share. 

Emerging as a major player in Beauty sales, Amazon has grown its dominance in the Beauty industry, with the share of sales exceeding 50% in 2023. While Amazon moves in on Walmart’s share of Beauty, Target’s share has remained fairly consistent over the past 5 years. Target in-store is consistent at 17.3% share, and Target online increasing slightly to 2.0% share in 2023. 

Yearly Beauty GMV Share, Amazon, Target & Walmart
United States | Online and B&M Sales | H1 2019 - 2023

The difference in Beauty performance between Walmart and Target is interesting to investigate. Target, which has invested heavily in expanding its partnership with Ulta, offers many of its shoppers a shop-in-shop format where they can shop at an Ulta store within Target’s stores and online. The partnership signals that Target is betting on Beauty as a category to drive sales in the long term. 

Through the partnership, Target is able to offer a curated assortment of products consisting of the “top 50+ prestige makeup, hair, and skincare brands” as well as allowing shoppers to capitalize on two rewards programs in one shopping experience, Target’s Circle program and Ulta’s Ultamate Rewards. The competitive advantage that Target gained through its Ulta partnership may have been the differentiating factor that helped defend its share of Beauty sales from Amazon. 

Curious what Beauty categories and brands are driving growth for Amazon?

Sources: In-Store Receipt Data, Proprietary Email Receipt Data

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