Walmart sells online apparel brand Eloquii to FullBeauty Brands in 3rd divestiture this year

Walmart has announced the sale of its online apparel brand Eloquii to FullBeauty Brands, marking the company’s third divestiture of a direct-to-consumer brand this year.

The retailer sold Bonobos to WHP Global and Express earlier in April, and in February, it offloaded Moosejaw to Dick’s Sporting Goods.

These sales represent a reversal of a 2017-18 strategy led by Marc Lore, Walmart’s former head of e-commerce.

Walmart purchased Eloquii in 2018 for a reported $100 million, aiming to build out the retailer’s online assortment with higher-margin apparel and home merchandise.

The acquisitions would also bring in talent that could help Walmart accelerate its digital strategy. Eloquii joined Walmart’s portfolio of digitally native vertical brands to expand its women’s assortment in sizes 14+ and offer unique and differentiated products in an underserved but growing segment.

FullBeauty Brands is purchasing Eloquii for an undisclosed sum and retaining its co-founder and brand leader, Julie Carnevale. Eloquii will join a portfolio of online plus-size apparel, shoes, and swimwear brands under FullBeauty Brands, which has 5 million active customers.

FullBeauty Brands CEO Jim Fogarty told CNBC in an interview that Eloquii is very data-driven and has a great feedback loop into its business. Fogarty plans for Eloquii to be an anchor in what he calls FullBeauty Brands’ “digital mall.”

The profitable FullBeauty Brands has annual revenue of $1 billion, a small slice of the $81 billion total addressable market for plus-size apparel. Fogarty hopes Eloquii will help it gain a foothold with more millennial and Gen Z consumers, what he called “the more TikTok, Instagram generation.”

After acquiring Eloquii, Walmart created a new brand of inclusive-sized apparel, which the retailer will continue to sell after the divestiture. Walmart’s e-commerce goals have shifted from growing the number of available items to improving the financials of the digital business.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said at the company’s investor day earlier this month that they’re now in a phase that is less about scaling store pickup and delivery, eCommerce assortment, and eCommerce fulfillment center square footage, and more about execution and operating margin improvement.

While Lore left Walmart in 2021 after five years, his contributions significantly transformed the retailer’s e-commerce business, including fulfillment operations, shopper delivery options, and speed. His efforts boosted the number of products sold online from 70 million to “hundreds of millions” today. Walmart’s online sales now make up 13% of total annual sales, as of its most recent fiscal year-end, up from 5% in 2019.

In recent years, Walmart has unloaded Modcloth, Bare Necessities, and ShoeBuy, all Lore-led acquisitions, in addition to Eloquii, Bonobos, and Moosejaw.

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