Claire’s Expands Walmart Partnership to 1,200 New Stores

Walmart and Claire’s are expanding their four-year-old partnership, with the retail giant bringing the fashion and jewelry brand’s products to 1,200 new stores.

According to a Tuesday (Sept. 20) news release, the expansion means Claire’s products are now available at 2,500 Walmart stores, as well as the Walmart website and at 360 Claire’s stores-within-stores at various Walmart locations.

The retailers said their collaboration lets Claire’s extend its “experience-driven shopping environment” and piercing services to new customers while helping Walmart establish itself as a destination for fashion. The release also noted that last year, Claire’s was recognized as Walmart’s top vendor for jewelry and accessories.

“With these new locations, we’re excited to build on the success we have seen with our partnership and our own expanding consumer products business to reach more customers where they live and shop,” Claire’s CEO Ryan Vero said.

In February, Claire’s full year earnings reflected a 70% increase in sales at its so-called concessions business, which includes big brands such as Walmart.

“I am extremely excited to see the accelerated roll out and success of our concession business with Walmart that began in January — setting the stage for many years of significant global growth,” Vero said at the time.

Read more: Walmart, Target, Kohl’s Look to Cut Amazon’s Apparel Lead

The expanded partnership comes at a time when Walmart is trying to compete with rival Amazon in the retail apparel sector, where Amazon has been the predominant player.

PYMNTS’ July study “Prime Day 2022: Inflation Hits, But Amazon Still Wins” found that Amazon’s lead in apparel has endured year over year, with clothing and accessories sales essentially unchanged and 38% of Prime subscribers purchasing fashion items on Prime Day.

See the report: Prime Day 2022: Inflation Hits, But Amazon Still Wins

Additionally, “Walmart+ Weekend: Prime Day Rival Or Trip To The Grocery Store,” a PYMNTS survey of close to 2,900 Walmart+ and Prime subscribers, found that 56% of Walmart+ subscribers purchased clothing and related accessories in 2022. However, given that Walmart+ membership is about a quarter of Prime, Amazon still dominates in that category.

“Amazon’s range of clothing and accessories may not be more extensive than Walmart’s, but the variety of brands available allows Amazon to appeal to a broad demographic,” that report said. “Amazon owns more than 50 in-house fashion labels and counts Zappos and ShopBop among its retail brands.”

Last week, Walmart announced it was upgrading its virtual try-on technology via its new “Be Your Own Model” feature, which brings the in-store fitting room experience to online shoppers.

Learn more: Walmart Upgrades Virtual Try-on Experience as Retail Fitting Tech Scales

“This experience allows customers to use their own photo to better visualize how clothing will look on them and creates a gamification of shopping that we believe will be very compelling to the customer,” Walmart U.S. Executive Vice President, Apparel and Private Brands Denise Incandela said at the time.

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