Accelerating growth in Flushable Wipes

Flushable Wipes had the potential to become a meaningful growth engine for Walmart’s Household Paper products category—but despite strong shopper interest, Walmart’s dollar share declined 108 basis points from 2022 to 2024. Kimberly-Clark and Walmart partnered to uncover what was holding the category back and translate shopper-led insights into modular and assortment actions that could unlock growth.

The opportunity: Accelerate growth in Flushable Wipes

The existing Flushable Wipes category was constrained by four barriers at the shelf: limited space, low visibility in the bath tissue aisle, insufficient capacity, and unmet online pickup and delivery demand.

Together, these challenges made it harder for Walmart customers to find and purchase Flushable Wipes. By rethinking how Flushable Wipes showed up on the shelf, Walmart had an opportunity to address those barriers, improve the shopping experience, and turn this small but high-potential segment into a stronger growth engine within the department.

The approach: Create three shifts that work together

Kimberly-Clark and Walmart set out to do more than reverse share loss. They developed a three-part strategy to improve how customers shopped the category: increase visibility, expand space where demand was strongest, and build a more relevant assortment.

First, the team aimed to make the category visible. Shopper Behavior showed that 55% of Dry Bath tissue unit sales happened in the first third of the aisle—well before shoppers reached the Flushable Wipes rack. Customers were entering the aisle, picking up Dry Bath tissue, and never making it down the aisle to Flushable Wipes. The data also showed that Flushable Wipes were frequently purchased alongside mid-tier and premium Dry Bath brands—and that Walmart baskets including Flushable Wipes were 34% larger than baskets without them. With this knowledge, the team moved the Flushable Wipes rack to the front of the aisle in over 4,000 stores, putting the category where Dry Bath shoppers were already engaging.

Then, Kimberly-Clark and Walmart expanded the category where demand was strongest. Using Channel Performance, the team identified stores with clear growth potential. They modeled the impact of doubling the Flushable Wipes footprint and validated that the added space would not hurt Dry Bath sales. The analysis identified 358 stores with strong sales potential and higher-than-average out-of-stocks, making them good candidates for additional Flushable Wipes space.

Finally, the team set out to give shoppers more reasons to buy. With Customer Perception, the team spoke directly to verified Walmart shoppers. Their feedback confirmed that Flushable Wipes were easy to miss, and the selection felt limited, with too little choice across scents, formats, and range. Younger shoppers, ages 18–29, were also underrepresented, signaling that the assortment was either not visible enough or was not built for them. With this knowledge, the team reworked the assortment and modular around shopper needs, protecting trusted brands and opening price points while adding more choice in scents.

The insights came to life through a more visible, productive modular

The results: More shoppers, bigger baskets, and share growth

The insights came to life through a more visible, productive modular display.

Visibility brought new shoppers into the category. The modular changes made the category easier to notice and shop, driving a 41% increase in category customers compared with pre-mod levels.

Expansion improved availability in store and online. Giving high-demand stores more space improved in-stocks by 173 basis points, reduced nil picks by 33%, and grew online pickup and delivery sales by nearly 20%.

A stronger assortment and updated modular led to bigger baskets. Cross-shopping between Dry Bath and Flushable Wipes increased from 10% to 12.3%, a 230-basis-point lift in category connection. Flushable Wipes attachment to Dry Bath baskets also rose 60 basis points, contributing approximately $4.5 million in incremental basket value.

Together, these changes drove 16% post-mod sales growth, took Flushable Wipes above $100 million in sales for the first time, and reversed share decline at Walmart with a 120-basis-point gain in the first year.

Scintilla helped Kimberly-Clark and Walmart turn shopper insights into clear actions and created a framework for future category decisions.