Walmart acquires intimates retailer

Dean Blake

16th Oct 2018

Continuing its steady acquisition of various e-commerce businesses, Walmart has acquired intimates retailer Bare Necessities.

The online retailer offers more than 100,000 items from more than 160 brands, and will continue to operate as a standalone and complementary brand to Walmarts other e-commerce offerings. Over time, the brand will be integrated into Walmart.com and Jet.com.

Bare Necessities co-founder and chief executive Noah Wrubel will lead the intimates category across Walmart.com and Jet.com, while also running the business he helped build.

“Bare Necessities will bring deep category expertise, a content offering designed to educate intimates shoppers, as well as strong brand relationships and operational capabilities,” Walmart e-commerce head of fashion Denise Incandela said.

Incandela said the acquisition fits into Walmart’s broader e-commerce strategy, which includes gathering category leaders with specialised expertise, as well as digital brands that offer unique products customers can’t find anywhere else.

“Bare Necessities fits into the former,” Incandela said.

GlobalData Retail managing director Neil Saunders recently voiced his support of the retailer’s recent e-commerce acquisitions, with firms like Moosejaw, Shoebuy and Bonobos extending the company’s reach into higher margin categories, niche areas, and more affluent shopper segments.

“The results of the efforts made in digital are evident from the 67 per cent increase in online gross merchandise value over the period. Acquisitions made a big contribution to this, but schemes like free two-day shipping and discounts for products collected in stores have also increased shopper numbers and encouraged more people to use Walmart.com,” he said.