Dive Brief:
- Albertsons has launched its new and largest private-label store brand, Signature, a new label that encompasses the rebranding of several existing product lines, including the Safeway brand and Everyday Essentials. Signature is exclusive to Albertsons Companies and will be available at all of its 18 banners.
- This multi-category line spans more than 4,000 CPG products, from meat, produce, and pantry staples to beverages, ingredients, and prepared foods. Every product comes with a 100% money-back guarantee.
- The breadth of this private-label brand could make Signature a lower-cost challenge to the sales and shelf space that major and smaller manufacturers hold at Albertsons' 18 retail chains.
Dive Insight:
Albertsons' Signature brand aligns with a movement among retailers which are producing private-label brands that focus on certain consumer preferences to better compete with manufacturers.
Instead of focusing only on low price points, retailers are also sourcing natural and quality ingredients for their private-label products to appeal to today's health-conscious and price-conscious consumers. Private-label brands are also beginning to include premium lines with ingredients and packaging that make it difficult for consumers to distinguish these products from manufacturers' brands.
Private-label brands' annual sales still comprise only $120 billion out of the $725 billion for packaged goods overall, according to a January 2015 report from IRI. Nielsen calculates private-label brands' U.S. market share at about 18% of packaged food sales. Product enhancements could give private labels an edge over manufacturers, however, as 71% of consumers in a 2014 global survey said they had noticed improvements in private label brands, according to Nielsen.
Manufacturers also have to worry about private-label brands outside of the grocery store as they formulate their e-commerce strategies. Amazon announced a major expansion of its private-label line last May, and online natural and organic foods retailer Thrive Market also debuted its private-label products earlier this year.