Walmart adds exclusives with Justice, Bubble for BTS
Walmart’s ramping up its back-to-school offerings by striking two exclusive deals with retailers targeting young shoppers — Justice and Bubble.
The retailer has already expanded its own brand apparel and uniforms, as well as school essentials through its Pen + Gear line, for BTS. It’s also been extremely active in apparel over the past few months and years, adding more than 1,000 national fashion brands and relaunching private brands Time and True, Terra & Sky, Wonder Nation and George, and launching the elevated store brand Free Assembly.
Other exclusive partnerships include Champion and now Justice, a popular tween brand that will have exclusive, signature items in 2,400 stores and at walmart.com. The line encompasses more than 140 fashion, jewelry and accessories, bedding, bath products, backpacks, stationery and tech accessories. A Walmart spokesperson said the retailer is the exclusive brick-and-mortar retailer for Justice’s tween apparel and Walmart will offer colorways on key items across the assortment only available at Walmart.
Apparel expects to be a strong category for the back-to-school shopping season, with parents saying they will spend less money on the back-to-school season this year overall, but more money on new clothes, according to a survey of 1,100 U.S. adult shoppers by Mulberry, a product-protection platform for retailers. The survey said fewer electronics will be purchased, and that 60% of respondents anticipate buying online at major retailers like Amazon and Walmart.
Additionally, in skin care, Walmart has become the exclusive retail partner of Bubble, a Gen Z-focused direct-to-consumer line that becomes the only DTC-only skin care brand to launch at Walmart.
The brand offers skin care products using natural ingredients and designed for teens. The company tests products for people ages 14 to 24, and is gender neutral and meets diverse young adults.