At SpartanNash’s first-ever Investor Day, executives announced that the company plans to boost its sales by $1 billion in the next three years and a major part of that growth will be expansion of its store brand sales.
“We will be increasing our own brand product penetration by 20%,” SpartanNash’s executive vice president and chief strategy and information officer Masiar Tayebi said. “Our goal is to launch 1,000 new (store brand) products by 2025. We are committed and we have a strategy.” The company is aiming to hit a total of $10 billion in revenue by 2025.
The company’s current private label brands include Our Family and Fresh & Finest sold at SpartanNash-owned grocers and Freedom’s Choice, which is sold to military-based retailers such as the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).
Becca McKenzie, marketing manager for Own Brands, said this is a continuation of a process to increase store brand sales which began a few years ago. She also cited that it is not only price but a good private label marketing campaign that helps sales.
“From a marketing standpoint, although the items offer a lower price to shoppers, we focus on product quality. We say our products are better than national brands. We are also active on social media and use those platforms to highlight our own brand products,” added McKenzie.
Rick Weekley, the company’s senior director of Own Brands Marketing, pointed out how sustainability has also become an important decision maker in the company’s product development of its store brands.
“It’s no longer about just having a pretty label, stacking it up and selling it,” he said. “It is about social responsibility. Our own research at the store level validates what we are seeing nationally. Sustainability is escalating as a reason to buy products.”
Recently, the company gave its selection of store-branded products a boost with the addition of 480 “indulgence and convenience” products sold under the Fresh & Finest brand. The assortment includes a variety of freshly cut produce along with take-and-break bread that serves as grab-and-go items for shoppers.