Wal-Mart Expands Great Value Brand
Discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is
expanding and enhancing its Great Value private label brand of products.
As part of the brand overhaul, Wal-Mart is adding 80 new products, including grocery items such as thin crust pizza, fat free ice cream, strawberry yogurt, organic cage-free eggs, double-stuffed sandwich cookies, and teriyaki beef jerky. The retailer also changed the formulas for 750 items including breakfast cereal, cookies, yogurt, laundry detergent, and paper towels, and conducted extensive consumer and product testing.
In addition to product testing, Wal-Mart redesigned Great Value packaging graphics to create a consistent, recognizable look throughout the store. The new Great Value packaging offers nutrition labels and updated food photography. Wal-Mart also reduced packaging when possible as part of the company’s sustainability goals. Wal-Mart says the Great Value product assortment spans more than 100 product categories and is the leading private label brand in the US.
Reports of
Wal-Mart's plans to enhance the Great Value brand first surfaced last month. While the retailer gets the bulk of its revenue from national brands, private label offerings cost 5-20% less than name brands. Great Value now accounts for 10% of Wal-Mart’s food sales, and Wal-Mart is adding a number of new private-label grocery items at a time when rival discount retailer Target is
enhancing its assortment of dry, dairy and frozen food products, and adding perishable goods to its product mix in an effort to boost lagging sales.
Recent research from
The Nielsen Company indicates that private-label retail sales
experienced significant growth during Q4 2008 and are poised for continued strong performance in 2009. The Nielsen Company reported that in October 2008, private label dollar sales maintained a steady 10% growth while branded product dollar sales growth fell from 3% to 2%. Nielsen also reported 5% private label unit sales growth in that time period, compared to a 4% decline in branded unit sales, and predicted dollar and unit sales trends would intensify through the end of 2008 and into 2009.
