Signature Select brand

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rwsandiego
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: November 19th, 2017, 8:43 pm The Open Nature redesign is on some liquid soaps in NorCal. Liquid soap?...
They are simply replacing "Bright Green" with "Open Nature." Every natural cleaning brand has a line of hand soap, so this makes perfect sense.
storewanderer wrote: November 19th, 2017, 8:43 pm...Well, Kroger has put Simple Truth onto paper products and dish soap and detergent so I guess okay. The new packages have a white background and the new Open Nature logo is a green circle.

Looks like a copy of Simple Truth as far as the basic color/packaging goes, but if you look at the logos and fonts, etc. then the Open Nature looks much different.
The redesigned "Open Nature" packaging looks more modern than the eleven-year-old packaging it is replacing.

Regarding the old vs new Signature Select logo and the products on which it appears, it does seem like "Signature Select" is replacing "Signature Fill-In-The-Blank" as the general house brand while something else might be in the works to represent a premium product line.

One thing I hate about all of the "premium" lines (and Private Selections is the worst offender, IMO) is they still use cheap ingredients like corn syrup and soybean oil instead of sugar and olive oil. That's like claiming McDonald's is "farm-to-table" because their ingredients were grown on a farm somewhere.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by architect »

SamSpade wrote: January 18th, 2018, 7:10 pm
architect wrote: January 18th, 2018, 5:07 pm . . . I do at least think that the Signature Select logo looks much more reasonable here than on some other products I have seen. In a way, these labels actually look like Kroger's canned vegetable redesign about a year ago. And yes, these were being sold for 89 cents each on sale, while both Kroger and Central Market (HEB) have their equivalent products selling for around 65 cents at an everyday price...
Hmm, where have I heard those prices before?
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1702#p15544
Wow, I don't even know what to say. If Albertsons thinks that they can carry the same pricing in Dallas as they do in Oregon, they are in for a rude awakening as the competition only gets stronger here (Aldi and WinCo actively expanding, HEB potentially expanding into market down the road, etc.). The only reason they have survived here so far is Kroger/Walmart's inability to build up a store base in the long-established parts of Dallas and certain suburbs due to land scarcity.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: January 18th, 2018, 7:39 pm
storewanderer wrote: November 19th, 2017, 8:43 pm The Open Nature redesign is on some liquid soaps in NorCal. Liquid soap?...
They are simply replacing "Bright Green" with "Open Nature." Every natural cleaning brand has a line of hand soap, so this makes perfect sense.
storewanderer wrote: November 19th, 2017, 8:43 pm...Well, Kroger has put Simple Truth onto paper products and dish soap and detergent so I guess okay. The new packages have a white background and the new Open Nature logo is a green circle.

Looks like a copy of Simple Truth as far as the basic color/packaging goes, but if you look at the logos and fonts, etc. then the Open Nature looks much different.
The redesigned "Open Nature" packaging looks more modern than the eleven-year-old packaging it is replacing.

Regarding the old vs new Signature Select logo and the products on which it appears, it does seem like "Signature Select" is replacing "Signature Fill-In-The-Blank" as the general house brand while something else might be in the works to represent a premium product line.

One thing I hate about all of the "premium" lines (and Private Selections is the worst offender, IMO) is they still use cheap ingredients like corn syrup and soybean oil instead of sugar and olive oil. That's like claiming McDonald's is "farm-to-table" because their ingredients were grown on a farm somewhere.
Bright Green did not have any liquid hand soap. They did have dish soap, paper products, some cleaning solutions, and laundry detergent.

Safeway actually had no private label hand soap of any kind for quite a few years (they always had the hand sanitizer though). It is only recently that Albertsons returned to having a private label hand soap in this Open Nature and also in the Signature Care line. And the Signature Care one that I picked up in Las Vegas for just 50 cents is too harsh, really messed up my skin. The .79 Kroger liquid hand soap is does not do that, or maybe it is waterier and that is why it doesn't do that...

The premium lines still have those filler ingredients but the "natural" lines shouldn't. Like Open Nature and Simple Truth. Though as Simple Truth has gone onto more items, I notice some things on the ingredient lists that I am not quite sure should be there. Maybe it is a function of the items they have added. I don't pay much attention to O Organics or Open Nature as they don't have much variety, limited to no promotion, and pricing is terrible.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by storewanderer »

architect wrote: January 18th, 2018, 8:10 pm
SamSpade wrote: January 18th, 2018, 7:10 pm
architect wrote: January 18th, 2018, 5:07 pm . . . I do at least think that the Signature Select logo looks much more reasonable here than on some other products I have seen. In a way, these labels actually look like Kroger's canned vegetable redesign about a year ago. And yes, these were being sold for 89 cents each on sale, while both Kroger and Central Market (HEB) have their equivalent products selling for around 65 cents at an everyday price...
Hmm, where have I heard those prices before?
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1702#p15544
Wow, I don't even know what to say. If Albertsons thinks that they can carry the same pricing in Dallas as they do in Oregon, they are in for a rude awakening as the competition only gets stronger here (Aldi and WinCo actively expanding, HEB potentially expanding into market down the road, etc.). The only reason they have survived here so far is Kroger/Walmart's inability to build up a store base in the long-established parts of Dallas and certain suburbs due to land scarcity.
The Signature Select Canned Vegetables have a 99 cents everyday low price in NorCal Division. Wow, I guess NorCal gets to have cheaper everyday retail on canned vegetables than OR or TX. You can accompany it with some of NorCal Division's 2.99 Dozen Value Corner Large Eggs, .79/pound bananas, or $5.50 Canned Libby Pumpkin, or $1.50 2 Liter Refresh Soda/Seltzer. The outrageous pricing is laughable, especially as most of NorCal's Stores have large banners out front about LowER Prices.

To be fair, Safeway Oregon pricing has historically been more fair, relative to the other divisions. Fred Meyer is a very tough competitor and WinCo also has quite a few stores in Oregon. There are also some (a shrinking number) independents scattered around OR who are very good on price.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: January 18th, 2018, 10:26 pm
architect wrote: January 18th, 2018, 8:10 pm
SamSpade wrote: January 18th, 2018, 7:10 pm
Hmm, where have I heard those prices before?
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1702#p15544
Wow, I don't even know what to say. If Albertsons thinks that they can carry the same pricing in Dallas as they do in Oregon, they are in for a rude awakening as the competition only gets stronger here (Aldi and WinCo actively expanding, HEB potentially expanding into market down the road, etc.). The only reason they have survived here so far is Kroger/Walmart's inability to build up a store base in the long-established parts of Dallas and certain suburbs due to land scarcity.
The Signature Select Canned Vegetables have a 99 cents everyday low price in NorCal Division. Wow, I guess NorCal gets to have cheaper everyday retail on canned vegetables than OR or TX. You can accompany it with some of NorCal Division's 2.99 Dozen Value Corner Large Eggs, .79/pound bananas, or $5.50 Canned Libby Pumpkin, or $1.50 2 Liter Refresh Soda/Seltzer. The outrageous pricing is laughable, especially as most of NorCal's Stores have large banners out front about LowER Prices.

To be fair, Safeway Oregon pricing has historically been more fair, relative to the other divisions. Fred Meyer is a very tough competitor and WinCo also has quite a few stores in Oregon. There are also some (a shrinking number) independents scattered around OR who are very good on price.
The pricing issues were mentioned in the latest report of Albertsons sales figures and changing strategy on what divisions to do that with, though I'm not sure if that was the new plan or the old one. Either way, they've got their act together on pricing. Due to Kroger's current situation, it wouldn't take a whole lot of cuts to get close to them competitively.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by storewanderer »

Safeway/Albertsons absolutely does not have its act together on pricing.

They are closer to having it together in some regions than others, yes. But they absolutely do not have their act together on pricing. NorCal just increased deli chicken strips to 8.99/lb and potato wedges to 3.99/lb in the deli. 2.99 dozen large eggs? .79/lb bananas?

Running a bunch of hot ads with super low price (probably loss) specials to draw in customers but then having regular prices so high that anyone who has any idea of price won't touch the regular price items is not having your act together on price.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by rwsandiego »

Looks like we have an answer to what Safebertson's will do with "premium" products: Signature Reserve.

Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Instacart Safeway Listing Displaying Signature Reserve Ice Cream

Picture I found online

Next time I stop at Safeway I'll see if they have any SR products.
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: May 8th, 2018, 11:55 pm Looks like we have an answer to what Safebertson's will do with "premium" products: Signature Reserve.

Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Instacart Safeway Listing Displaying Signature Reserve Ice Cream

Picture I found online

Next time I stop at Safeway I'll see if they have any SR products.
I wonder what the inspiration for this was. Was it the old "Rancher's Reserve" beef program of Safeway, or was it Starbucks Reserve? http://www.fortport.com/starbucks-reser ... and-store/

I am guessing the inspiration for the "Signature" label was the decade+ old Safeway "Signature Cafe" program.

I don't understand what they are doing. They already had a premium label in Signature Select. Why did they need to put the Select label onto commodity or low grade packaged foods and then come up with a separate "premium" line?

They have really screwed this up badly. I used to know the Select label meant a premium quality product. Now in some categories (like frozen pizza) they have the "old Select" item which is a best in class item, then they have some new "Select" items which should not be "Select" in other shapes/sizes that are just commodity type quality. I bought the new items expecting "premium quality" and was very disappointed.

They should have just gone with "Signature (period)" brand for commodity/standard type items, kept Select for premium quality and been done with it. I do agree getting rid of extensions like "Signature Farms" or "Signature Kitchens" or "Signature Health" makes sense, I always thought those extensions were a little odd anyway.

It appears they are having problems with their private label program and this is the result. I have a hint for them: the problem is not the items, or the brand names, or the packages. It is the PRICES. They are TOO HIGH. When your prices for private label are 40-50% above Kroger, and also above what Kroger charges for name brand items, and also frequently above your own promotional price for national brand items, your private label just isn't going to sell very well.

At this point they need some stability in private label offerings in their stores. So far in the past few years we've seen it go from either all Safeway *or* all Essential Everyday to first "Signature Farms, Kitchens, etc." and now to "Signature Select" and now again we are branching out some items to "Signature Reserve." How can you get customers to try and trust your private label when you keep changing the name of the private label?
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Re: Signature Select brand

Post by storewanderer »

storewanderer wrote: May 11th, 2018, 11:27 am
rwsandiego wrote: May 8th, 2018, 11:55 pm Looks like we have an answer to what Safebertson's will do with "premium" products: Signature Reserve.

Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Instacart Safeway Listing Displaying Signature Reserve Ice Cream

Picture I found online

Next time I stop at Safeway I'll see if they have any SR products.
I wonder what the inspiration for this was. Was it the old "Rancher's Reserve" beef program of Safeway, or was it Starbucks Reserve? http://www.fortport.com/starbucks-reser ... and-store/
I am guessing the inspiration for the "Signature" label was the decade+ old Safeway "Signature Cafe" program.

I don't understand what they are doing. They already had a premium label in Signature Select. Why did they need to put the Select label onto commodity or low grade packaged foods and then come up with a separate "premium" line?

They have really screwed this up badly. I used to know the Select label meant a premium quality product. Now in some categories (like frozen pizza) they have the "old Select" item which is a best in class item, then they have some new "Select" items which should not be "Select" in other shapes/sizes that are just commodity type quality. I bought the new items expecting "premium quality" and was very disappointed.

They should have just gone with "Signature (period)" brand for commodity/standard type items, kept Select for premium quality and been done with it. I do agree getting rid of extensions like "Signature Farms" or "Signature Kitchens" or "Signature Health" makes sense, I always thought those extensions were a little odd anyway.

It appears they are having problems with their private label program and this is the result. I have a hint for them: the problem is not the items, or the brand names, or the packages. It is the PRICES. They are TOO HIGH. When your prices for private label are 40-50% above Kroger, and also often times above what Kroger charges on an everyday basis for name brand items, and also frequently above your own promotional price for national brand items, your private label just isn't going to sell very well. Aside from the high quality frozen pizza, Southwest Salsa, and some breads, I don't touch the private label items at Safeway due to either quality concerns or prices being simply too high. My favorite pricing example lately is a Monopoly game piece that granted me a free 100ct Signature Aspirin. I redeemed it; retail value of $6.99 in Nevada (NorCal Store). I thought wow that item has gone up in price; checked a few blocks down the road at Smiths and the 100ct Kroger Aspirin was $1 everyday low price. Checked at CVS next to the Safeway in question and saw theirs was under $5.

At this point they need some stability in private label offerings in their stores. So far in the past few years we've seen it go from either all Safeway *or* all Essential Everyday to first "Signature Farms, Kitchens, etc." and now to "Signature Select" and now again we are branching out some items to "Signature Reserve." How can you get customers to try and trust your private label when you keep changing the name of the private label?
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