Sundae Body is coming from the Down Under to 1,800 Walmart doors by way of the massive big-box chain’s accelerator program Walmart Start focused on finding the next big names in beauty.
Launched in 2021, Melbourne-based Sundae known for its Whipped Shower Foam offers a joyful twist on everyday body care essentials. Growing its presence in a hot body care category, Walmart will stock 10 of the brand’s stockkeeping units, including an exclusive Passionfruit Pop version and limited-edition Strawberries & Cream of Whipped Shower Foam, which retails for $15.98 on Walmart’s website and $17 on Sundae’s site. Last year, the brand extended its assortment with Body Whip moisturizers it plans to introduce in the United States in the near future.
“We always knew that we wanted to be in a mass-market retailer, and I think Walmart being the biggest was a bit of a no-brainer for us,” says Sundae founder Lizzie Waley. “There are no products that are similar to ours and certainly that look like ours as well, so we’ve found really great success in having our products stand out in what is usually a pretty mundane space.”
She adds, “We’ve always had a vision to be the most-loved and frequently used body care brand, and I think part of that is continuously innovating when it comes to new products that really build on that body care routine, but also just trying to be in as many doors and as markets as possible to be as accessible as possible.”
Waley connected with Walmart during Beauty Independent parent company Indie Beauty Media Group’s Adit Live New York event in the summer 2023 and was encouraged to apply to Walmart Start. Other members of the 2024 Walmart Start cohort are Current State, Kazmaleje and LatinUS. Pardon My Fro, The Hair Lab by Strands, The Paint Lab, Undefined Beauty and Dossier are past Walmart Start cohort members.
Creighton Kiper, Walmart’s vice president of beauty, tells us, “We’re so excited to include Sundae Body in our next class of Walmart Start brands. Sundae Body offers a unique assortment of body care that fuses fun and functionality that we’re so excited for our customers to try. I can’t wait to see how customers respond, along with all the new offerings across Walmart’s beauty aisle.”
Sundae is available at over 2,500 retail doors across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The brand will roll out to Ireland in July and announce another American partner later this year to bring its total door count to 6,000 by end of the year. Waley says Walmart has no problem with the brand’s desire to expand at retail beyond it. She explains, “Because it is quite innovative, they’re really supportive of the fact that we do really need to be everywhere for it to create the most cut-through among American consumers.”
For its Walmart entrance, Sunday is tapping the retailer’s in-house advertising platform Walmart Connect. Typically, brands pay to have banners and videos displayed, but Sundae is getting fees waived due to its participation in Walmart Start. On Sundae’s end, Waley and her six-person team have been teasing the launch for two weeks and will promote it on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Sundae will also be running ads, boosting its affiliate program and sending mailers to 500 influencers and editors leading up to a two-day in-person event in May at Clark Street Diner in Los Angeles featuring product samples and a custom cherry pie with whipped cream on top. Waley says, “We’re hoping that we’ll be able to raise a bit of awareness so that, when we do the event, people will have somehow seen us once or hopefully twice.”
Sundae tailors its marketing to specific markets. In the U.K., it leans into lifestyle aspects, highlighting its capacity to elevate the shower. In the U.S., based on an insight from a Walmart buyer that Whipped Shower Foam’s lack of bubbles could be an issue for American consumers, the brand is tackling the issue head-on.
“We really need to dial up the whipped cream,” says Waley. “We’ve basically created this entire campaign where the tagline line is, ‘Like whipped cream, but for the shower,’ just to make it really, really clear that it isn’t a gel, it’s not going to bubble up, but it’s still going to cleanse with the lather.”
Australian and Irish consumers don’t use whipped cream much or at all. The marketing aimed at them involves a lot of educating on how to properly use Sundae’s Whipped Shower Foam. Waley says, “The fact that you have to shake it, you turn it upside down and then you dispense it, we had to really gear our marketing towards that because we were finding people would try to dispense it upright and it wasn’t working.”
For Sundae’s Ireland launch, Sunday is emphasizing soft serve, which is more prominent in the country than whip cream. Waley says, “It’s really important whenever we launch into a new market that we actually go and really understand it before we even form any sort of marketing messaging.”
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