PL Buyer: Which is Your Private Label Food Retailer of the Year?
There's no question that private label food sales have benefited from the recession and that private label is likely to hold onto some of the market share it gained this year, even after the recession (finally) is just a distant memory.
That said: which retailer working the food category has led the way in making private label truly a part of its overall marketing and sales strategy rather than just a nice-to-have additional income stream? If you had to pick a private label retailer of the year, which would it be?
How about Walgreens which, although not a traditional food retailer, has been expanding its food offerings while also rolling out its acquired (Duane Reade) Delish line across the country?
Should the honor go to one of the supermarket 800-pound gorillas such as Kroger, Safeway or Ahold, which continue honing their private label strategies or perhaps Supervalu, which has been working to increase private label as a percentage of its overall sales? And then there's Wegmans, which always seems to be everyone's favorite supermarket when it comes to innovation and customer service. Has it done enough with private label to merit recognition on that front as well? What about Trader Joe's or Whole Foods?
Turning away from traditional food retailers again, what about Family Dollar, which is increasing food offerings and extending its Family Gourmet private label line? And then there's Costco, which is driving hard to up its private label sales. Which retailer stands out from that crowd? If you could vote for only one, which would upcoming it be and why? Your responses will figure into our selection of the PLBuyer "Food Retailer of the Year."
Discussion Questions: If you had to single out a private label food retailer of the year, which would it be? Would you say this was a particularly hard or easy year to make a selection?