Walmart customers may discover a new experience when shopping for makeup and skincare products: in-store beauty advisors offering personalized tips and recommendations. The retail giant is moving beyond its no-frills service model by staffing beauty aisles with trained specialists who can suggest foundation shades matching a shopper's skin tone or recommend a moisturizer trending on TikTok.
Beauty Experts Rollout
These roles were introduced at 22 stores in Arkansas and Texas in recent months, and Walmart expects to have them in more than 400 of its 4,600 U.S. stores by the end of the year. The addition of beauty experts comes as Walmart, Target, specialty chains like Sephora, and department stores compete for a larger share of the $129 billion U.S. beauty and personal care market, offering customized advice and interactive spaces to encourage in-person shopping alongside online sales.
Pilot Beauty Bar Expansion
A year ago, Walmart set up areas in 40 stores where customers could sample makeup and speak with beauty advisors. The pilot beauty bar concept is now in hundreds of stores, according to Vinima Shekhar, vice president of beauty merchandising for Walmart’s U.S. division. As part of plans to remodel 650 locations by year-end, the company is moving beauty departments to the front of stores and installing displays to showcase products gaining attention on social media.
“We’re not trying to be an Ulta or Sephora,” Shekhar told The Associated Press. “We have the breadth of assortment that no one else has. We have convenience that no one else has. What we also want to do is layer on a level of service for both our associates and our customers: ‘Here’s what’s trending. Here’s what’s new.’”
The Importance of a Human Touch
Department stores and beauty chains have long employed staff to assist customers with testing and buying cosmetics. Pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens added beauty experts to many locations in the past decade. Walmart’s decision highlights how retailers with physical stores rely on human interaction to differentiate themselves from online platforms and AI chatbots.
Walmart has added more premium brands to its beauty assortment in the last year, including French pharmacy skincare brand La Roche Posay, Australian natural makeup brand Nude by Nature, and FHI Heat hair tools. Some La Roche Posay sunscreens cost nearly $40 for 1.7 ounces. The beauty refresh is part of a broader initiative to upgrade merchandise and ambience as Walmart attracts higher-income shoppers. Customers buying higher-end products seek inspiration when shopping, Shekhar said.
Target announced in early March that it plans to expand its upscale beauty product assortment and deploy staff with enhanced product expertise this fall in 600 stores. A new department called Target Beauty Studio will partly replace in-store Ulta shops as a partnership with Ulta ends in August. Experts providing enhanced customer service may become a feature in other departments. Walmart is considering adding experts in electronics, according to Whitney Hunt, vice president of Walmart's U.S. operations. Target also launched a baby boutique experience last month in nearly 200 stores, where a concierge helps shoppers find products from registries created by expectant parents.
Advice That's in Demand
While artificial intelligence threatens jobs across industries, online postings for beauty experts and advisors remained stable between February 2020 and this month, according to Cory Stahle, an economist with the research arm of jobs site Indeed. Postings for marketing and software development jobs fell more than 20% in the same period. The median wage for beauty expert roles was $19.54 per hour in March, roughly $2 more than the hourly wage for all other retail jobs, according to Indeed data. Walmart says its beauty experts can earn $14 to $35 an hour, depending on store location, similar to the hourly range of $14 to $37 for all Walmart hourly workers.
Walmart's beauty advisors undergo a day of training at a company academy and receive ongoing instruction on products, seasonal trends, and working with customers. They do not apply products on shoppers or do makeovers, unlike employees at department stores and specialty beauty chains. Walmart provides online tools to help advisors understand sales targets, top-selling brands, and how their store compares with others, Hunt said.
Helena Bacon, 21, a University of Arkansas junior studying biology, said the training she had last fall made her feel more empowered to help customers. Previously, she helped in the pharmacy, health, and personal care area of a store in Fayetteville and occasionally assisted customers in the beauty section. Now, she understands product ingredients, identifies flattering lipstick shades, and keeps up with TikTok trends. “I was kind of everywhere before,” she said. “But now that I’m just in my section, if someone does come up to me and asks for a recommendation, I could go over with them and say, ‘This is what I know is good for the problem you’re trying to fix.’”
