Senior Manager

Winding career path brings new Walmart milk plant manager kalifa Hill to Robinson. WATCH: The new Walmart milk plan operation in Robinson will take in 1.5 million gallons daily at full capacity. Check out Wednesday's tour at the grand opening. Kalifa Hill grew up just outside Washington, D.C., fascinated by solving problems. Science and technology dominated her thought process in high school, when the internet represented a brave new world to explore. Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Related to this story. WATCH: The new Walmart milk plan operation in Robinson will take in 1.5 million gallons daily at full capacity. Check out Wednesday's tour at...

From routine to ritual: experiential body care reshapes the category. Body care is undergoing a quiet but meaningful transformation. Once defined by utility - cleansing, hydrating, protecting - the category is now being reshaped by a new consumer expectation: experience. Texture, scent, visual appeal and emotional response are becoming just as important as performance, giving rise to what can be described as experiential body care. At its core, the trend reflects a broader shift in how consumers approach self-care. Increasingly, everyday routines are being reframed as rituals - small, repeatable moments that deliver not only functional benefits, but also sensory enjoyment and mood enhancement. Few brands illustrate this shift more clearly than Sundae Body. Celebrating its five-year milestone recently with an immersive influencer brunch in Sydney, the Australian-born brand has built its identity around injecting joy into the shower routine, a space traditionally overlooked in premium beauty storytelling. Sundae's signature whipped shower foams, inspired by the look and feel of whipped cream, are designed to transform a functional step into a playful, sensorial experience. The result is a product that sits at the intersection of skincare, fragrance and entertainment - highly effective, but equally designed to delight. The commercial response has been significant. The brand sells an average of 14,000 shower foams per day - approximately four units per minute - highlighting strong consumer appetite for products that go beyond basic utility. Sundae Body is not alone in tapping into this shift. Globally, brands such as Sol de Janeiro have demonstrated the commercial power of fragrance-led, sensorial body products, while Tree Hut continues to drive mass-market demand through texture and scent-led formulations amplified on TikTok. Closer to home, Frank Body laid early groundwork for playful, community-driven body care, while heritage player Lush has long championed multi-sensory retail experiences. At the same time, brands like Nécessaire and Grown Alchemist highlight a parallel, clinical approach, showcasing how the category is now balancing efficacy with experience. This shift is also playing out within the pharmacy channel, where distributors such as Chemcorp are bringing globally recognised brands into the local market. Ranges including Dr Teal's and SheaMoisture tap into sensorial rituals through formats such as bath soaks, body oils and texture-rich formulations, reinforcing how experience-led body care is extending beyond prestige into accessible, everyday price points. This momentum points to a wider evolution within the category. As skincare has become increasingly clinical and results-driven, body care is emerging as a counterbalance - a space where creativity, indulgence and emotional connection can thrive. Sundae has capitalised on this positioning through a combination of product innovation, brand storytelling and digital-first marketing. Its highly visual, "Instagrammable" formats are inherently shareable, driving organic reach across platforms such as TikTok, where the brand has generated more than 9.7 million views. At the same time, the brand has maintained strong retail fundamentals. Now stocked in more than 9,000 doors globally, Sundae has secured tier-one partnerships across Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK, including Target, CVS and Walmart - where it was selected for the Walmart Start Accelerator Program. Importantly, the experiential approach has not been confined to a single product format. Sundae has expanded into multiple adjacent categories, including moisturisers, suncare and most recently fragrance, with the launch of hair and body mists. Each extension reinforces the same core principle: elevating everyday routines through sensorial engagement. Founder Lizzie Waley has been central to this strategy, building a brand that balances commercial scalability with a distinct emotional identity. In a crowded market, Sundae's success highlights the value of differentiation not just through ingredients or claims, but through how a product makes the consumer feel. This is where experiential body care becomes particularly relevant from an industry perspective. As price sensitivity increases and dupe culture continues to influence purchasing behaviour, brands are being pushed to justify their value beyond formulation alone. Experience - whether through texture, scent, packaging or storytelling - is becoming a key lever. Retailers are also responding. Merchandising strategies are increasingly focused on discovery and engagement, with body care positioned less as a commodity and more as a lifestyle category. Products that deliver a multi-sensory experience are more likely to drive trial, social amplification and repeat purchase. Looking ahead, the trajectory of experiential body care suggests continued growth, particularly as younger consumers prioritise products that align with both their emotional and aesthetic expectations. For brands, the opportunity lies in rethinking the role of body care altogether, not simply as a functional necessity, but as a daily moment of enjoyment. Read issue 86 of Retail Beauty below: