[ad_1] Walmart is adding to its online coterie of brands with its acquisition of plus-sized online retailer, Eloquii. The big box retailer, which announced the acquisition on Tuesday, has been building up an online collection of labels since its roughly $3 billion acquisition of Jet.com in 2016. Those brands now include ModCloth, Bonobos and Allswell. Walmart did not disclose the deal's value, but a person familiar with the terms told CNBC it valued Eloquii at roughly $100 million. It had interest from other retailers in the sale process, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. Recode first reported the deal price. Eloquii, which sells clothing in sizes 14 to 28, was started by teen retailer the Limited which sold the plus-sized lines online and in a limited number of stores. After The Limited shut down Eloquii in 2013, the brand for fuller-figured women reemerged as a digital-only retailer. It began opening stores in 2017. It employs roughly 100 workers today and will stay in its Long Island City, NY and Columbus, Ohio locations after its sale to Walmart closes, which is expected later this quarter. Americans spent $21.4 billion on women's full-sized clothing in 2016, according to NPD Group, which has predicted the market will grow at an average of 4 percent each year through 2020. As result, retailers have been looking for ways to tap into the market for women with curves. Kohl's last month said it would be launching EVRI, a new private label plus-sized brand, next spring. Target launched its plus-size brand Ava & Viv in 2015. It said earlier this year said it plans to double the number of stores in which it sells Ava & Viv by the end of this year, to 300. Online styling service Stitch Fix told analysts earlier this week it is continuing to add more plus-size items for shoppers. [ad_2] Source link
