WHY CAN’T WE...

be more resolute in eliminating duplication on the shelf and eliminating CPG brands with declining equity/share or little reason-for-being?

I thought COVID and some of the brand/sku simplicity that was necessitated (from a weary supply chain) during these 18 months was going to have a stickiness, but it seems like I was too optimistic. Many retailers have reverted to keeping too many duplicative skus, all with the same reasons for being.

I mean how many honey bears does a retailer really need?

Shoprite in the U.S., like many retailers, has multiple: Their own Shoprite Brand, Golden Blossom, Wholesome Pantry Organic (their own), Steve & Ed’s raw honey, Gunter’s clover and Glicks brand.

This is just one small example amidst a sea of clutter and duplication that exists in many, many retailers. All of this duplication has a negative effect on a retailer’s own brand and its potential share. Why can’t we just be more determined to eliminate unnecessary assortment the consumer doesn’t value?

There are also many CPG brands that negatively affect private brands and don’t deserve to be on the shelf through their own share numbers. In a multibillion-dollar sub-category like Paper Towels, Georgia Pacific’s Brawny has less than a 4.0 dollar share nationally.

It carves out a bare existence through a stream of BOGO’s, but basically the consumer has voted, with a declining brand share that has been proven out over the last five years. There is a similar story with Heinz mustard, a category where the Heinz brand name has little-to-no carryover and is anemic compared to French’s mustard and private brand. The only reason it remains on the shelf is that Kraft Heinz has literally poured a ton of money into the near half billion category

Private brands are already the #1 player in commodity categories like milk and eggs, but why can’t we make them even more differentiated when it comes to the stories we tell. The truth is we can, and if you can do it in big, everyday categories, it makes private brands even more credible and prominent in the consumers’ eyes.

Dorothy Lane Market, one of the best independent grocers in the world out of Dayton, Ohio differentiates many commodities in their own brand portfolio, and eggs is one where they challenge the consumer to think about “what makes a good egg?”

They explain through their marketing what a cage free chicken is and the importance of non-GMO grains.

They also are cage-free chickens. This means that there are multiple openings on the barns that offer the chickens shelter and nesting areas. This not only supplies ventilation, but the chickens are free to roam green pasture as they wish.

Trader Joe’s is also storytelling around their pasture raised eggs.

The hens that produce Carol’s Eggs Pasture Raised Eggs are, in fact, raised on dedicated pastureland, where they’re allotted 108 square feet of space each—that’s plenty of room to roam and forage as they please. The pastureland is never treated with herbicides, and the hens are never given hormones or antibiotics. Transforming commodity categories and creating differentiation through your private brands is one of the most powerful tools you can develop as a retailer. It creates an everyday relationship with your brand that is meaningful.