Dollar General Reinvents Its In-Store Beauty Offerings

Discount retailer Dollar General is putting a new emphasis on beauty products.

The company announced Wednesday it was unveiling “Beauty Reinvention,” a series of new store layouts in 300 stores that give shoppers an easier way to navigate its beauty and personal care items.

“We have been purposeful in our expansion, balancing new, fresh and trendy items with value,” Amanda Wilson, senior beauty buyer at Dollar General, said in a news release. “Beauty Reinvention creates a beauty destination at DG.”

According to the release, the first Beauty Reinvention stores launched last month, and include beauty bars designed “to give customers a ‘treasure hunt’ experience,” with products that include things like face masks, hair treatments, nail polish, lip gloss and bath bombs.

The retailer is also making changes such as increasing its skincare section by 50% and soap and shower offerings by 30%, while also expanding its hair care and hair coloring sections.

To go with the expansion, Dollar General has also rolled out three new hair and beauty products, a move that comes as the company is beefing up its private-label offerings, as PYMNTS reported earlier this month.

“We are increasing private brand offerings across many important categories, including candy and snacks, perishables, pet food and over-the-counter health care products,” CEO Jeffery Owen told analysts on an earnings call.

“We believe these products will further differentiate Dollar General in the marketplace as we look to provide our customers with tremendous value on quality products.”

And customers are looking for that value, according to PYMNTS research, which finds that 69% of consumers have made changes to their grocery shopping habits over the last year to combat rising prices. Thirty-five percent have switched to buying cheaper, lower-quality groceries.

With its private label expansion, Dollar General joins retailers such as Walmart in putting more emphasis on in-house brands.

Walmart has pledged to keep its prices on its private-label products low despite inflation, with CEO Doug McMillon saying the retailer is “not participating in a recession if there is one.”

Walmart also stepped up its own beauty efforts with the launch of Clean Beauty, an online platform aimed at environmentally-minded shoppers.

As PYMNTS wrote earlier this month, Clean Beauty offers products made without “priority chemicals,” as Walmart said in a news release, using as examples formaldehyde and PFAS — and is designed to make sure more shoppers can afford those products.

To that end, the digital platform offers more than 900 items, the company said, with the bulk of them selling for less than $10.

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