Gen Z in focus as Walmart relaunches private-label fashion line

By Siddharth Cavale

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walmart (WMT) will relaunch a private-label brand targeted at Gen Z customers, it announced on Thursday, to take on rivals and cross-sell products to customers.

Walmart will relaunch its 30-year-old 'No Boundaries' private-label fashion line in July offering products popular with Gen Z including oversized tees and baggy jeans, Denise Incandela, executive vice president of fashion at Walmart U.S., told a conference in New York. The brand drives $2 billion in sales for Walmart annually.

The range of 130 items will include men's and women's wear, intimates, shoes and a plant-based bra, whose pads are made out of 75% sugarcane, a Walmart spokesperson said.

She added that 80% of the products will be priced below $15, but will also include products priced at $5 such as printed tees, shirt tail dresses and short shorts.

"We are going after this Gen Z target market in a big way," Incandela said at the CommerceNext conference in New York, adding that the launch would be backed by big marketing push on TikTok, Roblox and Instagram. Incandela noted that 80 million Gen Z users use Roblox for about two hours every day, making it a good opportunity to connect with this cohort.

Walmart's core customer is typically older than Gen Z - those born between 1997 and 2012 - but it says it has increasingly been attracting new demographics of customers due to its heft in grocery. Shoppers have been focused on food and essentials for the past two years due to high inflation and interest rates, driving Walmart's annual sales to new records.

As more Gen Z customers come in to buy shampoo and bananas at Walmart, it gives the company a better chance to cross-sell products, the Walmart spokesperson said.

"We feel we are uniquely positioned to win with Gen Z because of our price points," Incandela said.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Josie Kao)