Dude Wipes leverages Walmart shopper data to launch new wipes for kids

“My kid has started using the bubblegum Dude Wipes, and now he’s like, ‘No, those are just for me, I can do it myself,’” Riley told Modern Retail, adding that having a set of wipes designed just for them can give kids a sense of pride. “I wasn’t expecting him to not ask me to wipe his butt anymore just because he had a special pack of Dude Wipes, but that organically happened.”

Riley said his team had been approached by Walmart merchants to make flushable wipes for kids, as they wanted to bring more personality to the “baby wipes” aisle. Both the merchants and Riley’s team used Walmart’s data platform, Scintilla, to validate the need for this. Walmart’s data arm, Walmart Data Ventures, has existed since 2020 and created Scintilla — previously called Walmart Luminate until a rebrand this February — which has allowed suppliers and brands to look at information such as sales figures, inventory levels, data on shopping patterns and results from customer perception surveys. Walmart pitches its platform to brands as a way to leverage its massive amount of first-party data and large customer base to understand and grow their business at the retailer.

One finding was that nearly four in 10 Dude Wipes shoppers at Walmart had also purchased baby or toddler wipes, and that baby or toddler wipes were nearly three times as likely to appear in a basket with Dude Wipes than in the average basket. Dude Wipes buyers would also spend 20% more on baby or toddler wipes than the average shopper in the category, driven by higher trip frequency, according to Walmart.

Dude Wipes also used Scintilla to run surveys when developing the product that helped them identify unique selling propositions, ingredients and price points. This was the first time, Riley had used the Scintilla platform to launch a product this way from scratch, he said. Knowing that its customers were already shopping for this kind of product, aided by eight years of history in selling at Walmart, was encouraging to the brand, he said. After the launch, Riley plans to look at how many Lil’ Dude Wipes shoppers hadn’t previously purchased the adult Dude Wipes.

Manufacturers “need to refine their positioning, refine their product concepts and refine their marketing,” said Mark Hardy, head of Walmart Data Ventures. “Being able to have more accurate data allows them to have a lower risk of failure.” For example, an executive at Bimbo Bakeries, which makes Sara Lee bread, Thomas’ Bagels and Ball Park buns, told Modern Retail last year the company used survey data from Scintilla, then called Luminate, to discover that new customers were more driven to flavored bagels than plain bagels. That, in turn, helped Bimbo think further about how it could tweak its breakfast offering.

“Retailers have traditionally held their first-party shopper data close, but with the imperative to find new revenue streams, they are looking to monetize that data,” Sky Canaves, principal retail and e-commerce analyst for eMarketer, said in an email. “Providing insights to brands is a big help to them. … These platforms can also showcase the quality of a retailer’s first-party data, which is the foundation for sustaining interest from brands in advertising on retailers’ media networks.”

Riley said he would want other retailers to give brands the ability to survey customers and determine what else customers are buying, as most retailers just give scan data per SKU and not other cross-shopping data.

“I’m not really dealing with another retailer that allows me to look at data like this and survey their customers. Maybe Amazon would be the only other one that’s even offering a data platform to do something like this,” he said. “In that case, it’s really only a two-horse race of who’s actually giving you the insight into their customers and their data.”

Hardy said what makes Scintilla unique is that its data is all within one ecosystem, rather than provided by separate entities in the analytics industry. Before Scintilla, “you had to piecemeal your primary research with your secondary research or your secondary data with your supply chain data, to try to make heads or tails of what was there,” he said. “This allows for merchants and suppliers to cut all that noise out of the equation.”

All suppliers have access to Scintilla Basic, which provides select Walmart sales and inventory insights. The full product suite follows a subscription model where brands pay a percentage-based fee depending on their sales in stores and online. Contract terms are for three years, with one-year renewal options.

Smaller brands like Dude Wipes are especially leveraging the platform, Hardy said. According to Walmart, more than half of Scintilla subscribers are considered small or emerging brands based on their annual gross merchandise volume at the retailer.

“[Smaller brands] can often create faster than larger companies,” Hardy said. “They’re sometimes more agile, more willing to collaborate.”