Historically, one area private label fell short was design. Shoppers didn’t believe the store brand packaging reflect high-quality products. But the Revolution is being led with strong design. Shoprite just debuted “bowl & basket,” its new food and beverage private label brand. Handsomely designed with a simple bespoke typeface, a warm color pallet, and understated photography, “bowl & basket” could be viewed by shoppers as a local craft company. A simple brow at the top of the package subtly states, “A Shoprite Brand,” without the dated logo that adorns over 300 stores nationwide. Shoprite, along with many competitors in grocery, have come to understand that unique, ownable, and strong design doesn’t cost any more than generic, same-old design. In fact, poor design could cost more in the long run, if you consider that customers won’t purchase products they have no interest in testing. National brands should take note, and ensure that the quality of their packaging should match the quality of their products. Want to really get a retailer’s interest? Design a package that’s retail-specific. Not only are you more likely to sell-in a shopper program, you’ll also gain the interest of shoppers. 

Retailers, no matter how big or small, are starting to realize the impact they are expected to have in their communities. For example, Family Dollar partnered with local Boys and Girls Clubs of America to produce a custom SKU of private label paper towels designed by kids. Kids got their designs featured on a product nation-wide, while proceeds went towards local chapters of BGCA. An added bonus: shoppers felt good about contributing to their neighborhood when they bought the product.  Of course, there remains opportunity for national brands to buy-in to this initiative and elevate the exposure of a charitable cause, drive more traffic to the retailer, and still align with FD’s objective of increasing sales of its private label products.

If bundling private label products with your brand drives traffic or increases basket size, the retailer will be interested. Bass Pro Shops, the national outdoor and sporting goods chain, has been partnering with national brands for years. Every catalog they drop devotes space for fishing rod and reel combinations that combine their private labels rods with brand name reels, like Abu Garcia and Shimano. Shoppers save between $10-$50, depending the quality of the pairing. The partnering opportunity in grocery, electronics, or home goods abounds for all types of national brands, especially for those with a long-standing relationship with retailers.

A planning process seems obvious, but how many of your clients actually have one? Between your authors? None. When we think of planning, we think of long hours, battles between brand and shopper teams, so many great ideas on the chopping floor... we get it. But what oftentimes gets overlooked is the opportunity to take a fresh look at upcoming shopper marketing calendars. This is an incredible time to find out where and when the retailer is pushing private label and how your client can show up in a way that is consistent with brand positioning. A little research goes a long way in affording the ability to pivot quickly and in a manner that is consistent with retailer objectives.

One approach is to review the retailer’s calendar from the previous year to determine which categories and seasons emphasized private label. If you think your national brand can partner with private label to offer the shopper an impactful solution, make that play (see #2). Otherwise, look for less-obvious seasons or create a new one to get your brand exposure. Just make sure you have the intelligence about the shopper to ensure that time of year and theme will resonate.

The traditional 64-page, full color printed Annual Report stands at an interesting junction. On one hand, the Annual Report is an excellent device to inform company shareholders of their intelligent investment. On the other, it often takes more than 64 glossy pages to convince investors, institutional or individual, that their hard-earned dollars were put to good use — especially when corporate earnings don’t exactly beat analysts’ expectations. Certainly, company profits could be spent more wisely than printing these 64 pages, thousands of times.

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