EXCLUSIVE: Why Target’s Good & Gather Line Hit the Mark
It’s all good for Target Corp.’s Good & Gather line, which is marking its fifth anniversary this fall. The collection has become a flagship brand for Target and reflects the retailer’s focus on and success in food and beverage over the last few years.
Progressive Grocer got an exclusive opportunity to talk to John Conlin, SVP of merchandising, food and beverage at Target, about the $4 billion portfolio that has become such a stalwart that more than 40% of all Target grocery runs now include at least one Good & Gather item.
Progressive Grocer: The growth of Good & Gather has been remarkable in only a few years – has the line exceeded your expectations or did you anticipate how it has resonated with Target customers?
John Conlin: I’m really proud of what the team has accomplished over the last five years. We introduced Good & Gather in September 2019 for consumers who wanted convenient, high-quality food options that tasted great and were also affordable. And since launching, Good & Gather has become Target’s largest owned food and beverage brand, with over 2,500 products, more than half of which are priced under $5.
The brand is resonating with consumers because we are constantly evaluating our entire assortment to deliver a portfolio of great items our shoppers want. We consistently seek feedback from consumers to make our brands stronger and more preferred.
Our recent addition of Good & Gather Toddler and Good & Gather Baby is a great example of how we’ve adapted the brand into new categories that serve shopper needs, make us more relevant to them, and drive growth. We just hit the one-year mark of the Good & Gather Baby and Good & Gather Toddler, and I can tell you the extension is surpassing original sales projections, and we’ll continue to launch new items throughout the year.
In the summer of 2024, Target launched its new Good & Gather frozen family meal selection, with internationally influenced flavors, such as the best-selling Thai green curry chicken and Indian chicken tikka masala meals.
We are a top 10 grocer having one of the largest digital grocery businesses in America. Digital penetration in food and beverage has accelerated by more than 15% since 2019, fueled in large part by our efforts to expand our fresh/frozen order pickup and drive-up pilot nationwide. Today, we’ve seen an increase in guest engagement when they shop for food and beverage digitally: Guests who’ve tried our pickup services for fresh and frozen groceries increase their F&B spend on average.
PG: How has this particular line contributed to Target's overall food and beverage success and elevation, especially within the past couple of years?
JC: What sets Target apart from other grocers is our assortment. We’re curators who bring together products our guests will love because they are inspiring and a great value. The strength of our portfolio lies in Target’s magic mix – or what we call the three-legged stool – including a distinctive combination of owned brands, like Good & Gather, national household brands and emerging brands. Together, they help us meet guest needs and bring the joy Target is known for to every visit.
Years ago, we set out on a journey to transform Target from being a retailer that sells food and beverage to one that celebrates food and beverage. Our progress is undeniable.
We have seen tremendous growth in our Food and Beverage business, growing more than $8 billion in annual sales in the last five years, with Good & Gather driving an outsized portion of that growth. Nearly 40% of all grocery trips include one Good & Gather item. Plus, of Target’s Grocery shoppers, those who buy Good & Gather make four times the number of trips and spend eight times the amount.
PG: How is this brand an example of consumers' shifting expectations of store brand products, in terms of the portfolio's name, packaging and variety of products? How is it both premium and value-centric?
JC: The strength of our portfolio lies in Target’s magic mix, or the distinctive combination of owned and exclusive brands, household national brands and emerging brands – that allows us to meet shopper needs and bring the inspiration and joy Target is known for to every visit.
At Target, we put a lot of care, energy and consideration into the brands we create. Our owned brands are a key differentiator, offering shoppers incredible value with an element of exclusivity. Good & Gather offerings are not generic alternatives to national brands, but instead are anchored to consumers’ needs.
Across our assortment, we’re focused on price and value, ensuring compelling opening price points, leveraging our owned brand portfolio, and driving strong promotions to engage our guests and meet their needs.
To bring our owned food and beverage brands to life, our expert team of trend analysts, food scientists, product designers and sourcing managers continue to evolve the owned brand Food & Beverage assortment and ensure we’re producing world-class food brands and products that exceed consumer expectations for taste, quality, innovation and value.
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We’ve consistently expanded our owned food and beverage brands through new launches by adding thousands of new items a year across the entire food and beverage assortment. We’re regularly innovating to bring new every day and seasonal items through our owned brands. In Good & Gather, if you like to snack on pickles or even olives, we’re making it easy with a new product launch – new refrigerated snack packs for each. We’ve also expanded the brand into new categories like toddler and baby food items.
PG: Can you share any news about the next phase of this flagship Target brand – including any new products or updates?
JC: Our momentum across the food and beverage business is strong, and we’re not slowing down. At Target, everything we do starts and ends with our consumers, and they will always inform how we innovate and “what’s next” throughout our grocery aisles.
We will launch hundreds of new products across Good & Gather in 2024 alone and the team is always busy creating new offerings for our flagship brand.
A few sneak peeks on things I am excited about:
- Fall newness: This season, we will launch over 500 national brand products and over 150 new items for fall across our owned brands, including Good & Gather. Shoppers will find products in seasonal flavors that are exciting as we transition to colder weather, like Good & Gather Stuffing Flavored Potato Chips, Good & Gather Apple Pie Sparkling Water and Good & Gather Pecan Pie Cold Brew. The Good & Gather Honey Pumpkin Goat Cheese Ravioli is my favorite.
- Thanksgiving: Shoppers loved the Thanksgiving Meal Under $25 we offered last Thanksgiving and this year; we’re looking forward to bringing them new value options. Good & Gather is a key component to our Thanksgiving value strategy.
- Holiday: I am so impressed with what the team is cooking up for the Holiday season, which is so important to our shoppers. From entertaining options, like the first-ever Good & Gather charcuterie party tray for just $11.99, a really competitive price when looking at the marketplace, as well as accoutrements, like Good & Gather Dips (I love the Buffalo Style Chicken Dip), that make hosting easy – we’ll have it all.
- New categories: In 2025, we will expand into several new categories across Good & Gather, like meal and snacking solutions for the whole family. We know that Millennials and Gen Z eat more snacks daily compared to any other generation with salty snacks leading the way.
- Toddler and baby: We are approaching the one-year anniversary of our Good & Gather Toddler and Good & Gather Kids launch, and since then we have seen incredible success. Shoppers love the affordability of the assortment, including the organic options as well. In just a few weeks we’ll be launching an additional 28 items.
- Good & Gather Market: We’ve been making investments in freshness over the last couple of years. You can’t be in the grocery business without fresh produce. So, we've really doubled down on freshness, including expanded organic options. Most recently, we revamped the fresh area in over 1,000 stores to celebrate Good & Gather and leverage the affinity our guests have for the brand and the value it brings. This redesigned market will showcase our owned brand assortment, in fact, over half the market will be comprised of Good & Gather products.
- Seasonal moments: We will invest in delivering even more seasonal offerings for Good & Gather in 2025, like we are already doing for Favorite Day, our sweet and savory brand. This winter, shoppers will find plenty of seasonal inspiration across Favorite Day, like our chocolate gem-filled candy canes and Bullseye-shaped treats.
PG: What are some Good & Gather products that wind up in your own shopping cart - and why?
JC: We have frozen pizza night at the Conlin house on Fridays. The Good & Gather Uncured Pepperoni Pizza with Spicy Honey is our favorite. It is so easy to make and delicious.
