Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer magazine.
Private label shares have been fairly flat since 2012. Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer asked industry experts what's going on, and how retailers might jump-start growth.
Here are some suggestions:
Trim back low-margin national brands.
Craig Espelien, CPG industry consultant: "Too often, retailers react when their competitors put a fringe brand on sale, frequently reaching out to the brand in question to try to replicate the deal. Instead, they should focus (like Kroger has) on how to maximize shelf performance by carrying fewer duplicative brands.
Communicate PL messages better.
Jon Hauptman, partner at Willard Bishop: "Retailers need to effectively communicate: 1) the quality and value of their private label offerings inside the store (via signage and stories) and outside the store (via digital vehicles like their website, social media, etc.), and 2) the value and savings associated with choosing a private label option via shelf edge tags.
Stop the "me-toos".
Christine Bellamo, director of dairy and frozen global business development at Daymon Worldwide: "Retailers that integrate private brands into their long-term strategic growth plans rather than viewing their private brands as a range of 'similar' or 'me-too' products are the ones whose private brand sales growth haven't stalled."
Seek out untapped PL categories.
Todd Hale, principal at Todd Hale, LLC: "Retailers should focus on making the most out of growing private label categories where private label development has been low while managing losses in large private label categories whose relevance is waning (think milk)."
Emphasize local/natural.
Bob Shaw, president/CEO of Concentric Marketing: "All of the hot button trends right now around basic, local, authentic, non-processed, etc. are not often associated with private label. And that's unfortunate because it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to flip private label to a more local story. But outside of the produce section, where many retailers are talking about where the food comes from, most aren't doing it with private label, which is a missed opportunity."