Aldi & Amazon Private Label Food Gets Fresh

Trader Joe’s private label food is not considered ‘private label’ according to data gleaned from  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards according to Steven Johnson our the Grocerant Guru® consumers consider it very good elevate it above many legacy food brands.

Retail grocery stores Aldi a sister company to Trader Joe’s has a saying “Poor people must save, Rich people like to”.  So when the economy went south, consumers turned to store brand groceries to make ends meet. A funny thing happened, now that the economy has improved and incomes are on the rise, consumers are not returning to their previous shopping habits and preferences.

Amazon.com has launched a new food brand in its private label pantheon, this one being particularly noteworthy because it's the company's first food line that doesn't hide its status as a private label. Foodservice Solutions® team believes Amazon is rapidly branding it fresh Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food as well. Is your company doing the same? Do you know where to start?

A recent report from McKinsey & Company found that “75 percent of consumers say that they do not intend to go back to purchasing national brands. In fact, one-third no longer prefers the expensive brand. The report concluded that consumers are of the opinion that store brand items offer better value for the money and are of higher than expected quality.”

The McKinsey report found that “Fresh foods in particular have developed brand loyalty, and constitute a double-digit percentage of the products sold in supermarkets: Eggs (65 percent), milk (56 percent), cheese (39 percent), bread and baked goods (35 percent) and fresh produce (21 percent). These figures are a boon to supermarkets, according to PLMA, since fresh foods in supermarkets are growing faster than other sections of stores. Have your branded your Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food?

Consumers mater McKinsey found that “with comparable quality, some consumers say they cannot distinguish between national and store brands. Consumer Reports published an article on its comparison of taste tests. Trained testers evaluated 19 different foods. National brands won eight times, store brands once. The most significant finding, however, was that national and store brands tied 10 times.”

Remember Aldi the fastest growing grocer in the United States said “Poor people must save, Rich people like to”.  That matters as consumers who purchased store brands saved an estimated $30 billion, according to PLMA. Which means, on a typical trip to the supermarket, a shopper saves about one-third on basic grocery and household items when choosing store brands.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant