Grocers Should Heed these Private Label Lessons from Overseas

American retailers looking to improve their private label offerings should pay close attention to what retailers in foreign markets, where private brands have long held sway, are doing to enhance their respective programs.

“U.K. grocery retailer Waitrose is commercializing personalization through a novel take on store loyalty programs by allowing its loyalty card holders to pick their own offers and receive 20 percent off their chosen selection of 10 items,” says Jim Holbrook, chairman and CEO of Stamford, Conn.-based retail services company Daymon. “Many of the offers are for their heralded line of private-brand products.”

Another model he holds up is that of German discounter Aldi Süd, which has “used online crowdsourcing to solicit feedback for new product ideas and designs. In the spring of 2017, Aldi Süd asked shoppers to share their ideas for the ultimate pudding dessert topping on Facebook. The winning idea will be rolled out as a new product across its stores.” Holbrook adds that U.S. specialty grocer Trader Joe’s has adopted a similar approach.

Additionally, in the realm of “private-branded services,” he points to French retailer Carrefour, which in Italy has launched the Blue Box handyman service “as a way to connect local businesses to customers,” while Netherlands-based Jumbo Foodmarkt has rolled out the “Pick & Mix Vegetable Snack Station within the produce section, where shoppers can fill a single-serve plastic container with a variety of snack-sized vegetables of their choosing for a single price.”

Of the latter initiative, Holbrook asserts, “Creative merchandising is something any retailer can employ, regardless of your scale.”

Read more about the future of private label in the February 2018 issue of Progressive Grocer.