Walmart introduces new private label brand

[ClownLoach]

Futile attempt on this new label by Walmart. It's not their thing.

Walmart was officially selling F&E products in their stores for quite a while when F&E was still in business. For the most part these were high quality products.

They did a horrible job with it................really bad.

Was that because F&E was so overloaded with inventory they had to sell it before it expired? I thought they also had some Wild Oats merchandise at Walmart too? I think they just shoved the items into open space on the shelves.

The Walmart systems generate item level unique planograms for every store. Thus automotive will have more sunshades instead of ice scrapers in California. The system tracks sales and adds/removes items at the store level. This is a huge problem for Walmart because when items are out of stock and the shelf labels disappear it is rare for anyone to notice and replace the missing labels so the counts are corrected and items reordered. They have items literally disappear because of this problem, and then the system will just delete the item from the next version of the planogram because the system thinks they have dozens of that item on hand but they're not selling when reality is they're not on the shelf to sell.

The old Sam's Choice items had inconsistent product flow to the stores and would run out frequently. I wonder how many of them just got "faced over" with regular product over stock to make the shelves fuller, the label removed, and the items never came back? This seems to occur with any item at Walmart that has inconsistent product flow. If you look at a Walmart that has just completed a remodel, they will have a far greater SKU depth than an identical store in the same town because they reset everything to chain standard and bring back every item.

One issue of note is SuperTarget which I haven't mentioned lately because I have not gone there. They have a truly horrible test going in some stores including one by me where they have basically reduced the SKU depth in the grocery aisles to the same meager assortment as a Pfresh. So where you had a shelf that may have had 8 kinds of ketchup, now you just have like 8 facings of Heinz in a pint squeeze bottle and 6 facings of a Target brand. It is one of the most idiotic things I've ever seen. Apparently this serves to empty the backroom of food overstock which is another problem as now there is a mass of the same SKU on the shelf and date rotation is damned near impossible so I'm finding freshest in front most of the time alongside expired items. Basically all of the items that massed out the aisles in the Super format were Target brands like Good and Gather, I would estimate that they carry about 5,000 additional SKUs normally in the Super format. So all of those are wiped out in these test stores, but the "perimeter" stays the same including the expanded bakery program, the staffed produce department where someone is constantly working on merchandising and culling, albeit they reduced SKUs in dairy to Pfresh level as well and just spread out facings the same way. I do not know how widespread this test is, I have two Supers within ten miles of me and one has it while the other doesn't. The one they left alone is Menifee which is allegedly their top SuperTarget in the chain.

So I wonder if Walmart senses that they can capture some of the customers in towns where Target is trying this idiotic drugstore quality food assortment and hoping they can deliver the knockout punch to the SuperTarget format. Adding basically a Walmart version of the thousands of Target branded items getting cut from these stores could be very beneficial to them if they pick the right items.

I do not believe Target is going to roll this program nationwide, and hopefully they just stop it in it's tracks before they really lose a lot of share. The store near me where they did this had been poorly operated for years as it opened in the late 2000s with more than half of its shopping center not built out and no homes nearby. The center is only being finished now with Home Depot and others opening in Spring 2025. They had finally been improving the standards in this mismanaged store and growing the business as there is a lack of supermarkets in the immediate area, but I suspect that they've lost a lot of the business they had gained with this stupid SKU reduction and multiple shelves of one SKU.

[veteran+]

I loved the Sam's Choice products and yes, now they seem to only be on a few stray bread items (why?), frozen pizza, and chocolate. Much like the Reserve version of the Signature items at Albertsons Co's. (interesting... same private label manufacturer? LOL)

This new brand would appeal to someone like my sister, whose community has a Walmart on the south end of the community and Trader Joe's only one store on the far north end. She's largely shifted her vegetarian diet/shopping to Grocery Outlet after it opened in the community.

Off Topic

In my opinion, as a TJ's lover since I moved to a city with them, their private label goods have fallen even a little before the start of the 2020 'change' and have never fully recovered. I frequently try and am disappointed by things from the freezers, especially. They do luck out with these new online trending foods, like:
Hashbrowns (had these for years, but I guess people cooking with air fryers and not wanting to pay $3 at McD's have learned...)
Dutch Griddle Cakes (again, the McD's crowd)
Crunchy Chili Onion Crunch Chili and onion condiment

... but they've also encountered the press starting to expose the dark side. The one successful unionizing movement in New England, the allegations of entertaining people like you reference in the Brit Aldi discussions above, then canceling negotiations and producing a copy-cat.

I will add that I have a friend that works there and he has way more good days than bad and truly takes pride in his store. That's probably more than you could say for a lot of associates at many of the larger food sellers these days.

I concur!!!!!

[veteran+]

Futile attempt on this new label by Walmart. It's not their thing.

Walmart was officially selling F&E products in their stores for quite a while when F&E was still in business. For the most part these were high quality products.

They did a horrible job with it................really bad.

Was that because F&E was so overloaded with inventory they had to sell it before it expired? I thought they also had some Wild Oats merchandise at Walmart too? I think they just shoved the items into open space on the shelves.

The Walmart systems generate item level unique planograms for every store. Thus automotive will have more sunshades instead of ice scrapers in California. The system tracks sales and adds/removes items at the store level. This is a huge problem for Walmart because when items are out of stock and the shelf labels disappear it is rare for anyone to notice and replace the missing labels so the counts are corrected and items reordered. They have items literally disappear because of this problem, and then the system will just delete the item from the next version of the planogram because the system thinks they have dozens of that item on hand but they're not selling when reality is they're not on the shelf to sell.

They had both brands and totally ignored them. It was a formal agreement and it was to be Walmart's organic/health brand. There were no expired products push.

At least that was what we were told (which we all hated the idea).

[ClownLoach]

Futile attempt on this new label by Walmart. It's not their thing.

Walmart was officially selling F&E products in their stores for quite a while when F&E was still in business. For the most part these were high quality products.

They did a horrible job with it................really bad.

Was that because F&E was so overloaded with inventory they had to sell it before it expired? I thought they also had some Wild Oats merchandise at Walmart too? I think they just shoved the items into open space on the shelves.

The Walmart systems generate item level unique planograms for every store. Thus automotive will have more sunshades instead of ice scrapers in California. The system tracks sales and adds/removes items at the store level. This is a huge problem for Walmart because when items are out of stock and the shelf labels disappear it is rare for anyone to notice and replace the missing labels so the counts are corrected and items reordered. They have items literally disappear because of this problem, and then the system will just delete the item from the next version of the planogram because the system thinks they have dozens of that item on hand but they're not selling when reality is they're not on the shelf to sell.

They had both brands and totally ignored them. It was a formal agreement and it was to be Walmart's organic/health brand. There were no expired products push.

At least that was what we were told (which we all hated the idea).

What I mean is that Walmart probably bought them at a deal like Big Lots might since they had too much on hand and they would have eventually expired? Then the F&E corporate internal PR weasels came up with a story to sell inside the organization. I agree it did not seem like Walmart did anything to promote this merchandise.

[storewanderer]

Futile attempt on this new label by Walmart. It's not their thing.

Walmart was officially selling F&E products in their stores for quite a while when F&E was still in business. For the most part these were high quality products.

They did a horrible job with it................really bad.

Was that because F&E was so overloaded with inventory they had to sell it before it expired? I thought they also had some Wild Oats merchandise at Walmart too? I think they just shoved the items into open space on the shelves.

The Walmart systems generate item level unique planograms for every store. Thus automotive will have more sunshades instead of ice scrapers in California. The system tracks sales and adds/removes items at the store level. This is a huge problem for Walmart because when items are out of stock and the shelf labels disappear it is rare for anyone to notice and replace the missing labels so the counts are corrected and items reordered. They have items literally disappear because of this problem, and then the system will just delete the item from the next version of the planogram because the system thinks they have dozens of that item on hand but they're not selling when reality is they're not on the shelf to sell.

They had both brands and totally ignored them. It was a formal agreement and it was to be Walmart's organic/health brand. There were no expired products push.

At least that was what we were told (which we all hated the idea).

I never saw F&E items at Wal Mart and as I recall the Wild Oats items were only rolled to a limited number of stores. In Reno I think I only ever saw them at one store. It felt like it was "leftover" items that needed to get distributed out. The items were integrated into the planograms typically with top shelf placement, but there was no promotion.

At the time I don't think the typical Wal Mart customer was interested in these items. Also Kroger was building up Simple Truth around the same time. Kroger Simple Truth has a wider SKU variety and lower prices, and was being promoted much more heavily. Wal Mart had the resources to make WO a successful brand perhaps but I am not sure the customers would have been on board.

Another thought I had at this point with all of the digital business Wal Mart has captured, I feel like Wal Mart is serving two distinct segments of customers at this point in many areas (maybe not the rural markets, but the suburb markets for sure). The upper middle class shopper does not enter the store but uses the website/pick up services. At least in my area I know a lot of people who never shopped Wal Mart before but do now and use the pick up service. Wal Mart knows this and makes it very easy for these customers- in app returns, often just refunded automatically... they'll lose these customers if they send them to the hell known as the Wal Mart "customer service" desk. So to that point, this "bettergoods" - if they can successfully market this brand digitally to these customers who don't set foot into the store, maybe it can be successful from that angle. But I don't think it is a brand that caters to the "walk in customers" at Wal Mart.

[Alpha8472]

Walmart most likely wants to get rid of the Sam's Choice brand so that Sam's Club can be split off from Walmart. Sam's Club can be sold off and anything with the Sam's name will be eliminated from Walmart.

The higher priced premium brand does seem to be a brand that Walmart believes will be bought by higher income online delivery or pickup customers. It might work out. The more premium brand will generate some sales and appeal to those richer customers that order online.

The name Sam Walton has always been an integral part of Walmart. I know of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the San Francisco Bay Area. It used to have what I would call a Sam Walton altar. It had his framed photo and a wooden table with candles, various offerings, and fancy objects. It was in an alcove at the door to an employee only room. It gave off a vibe of "All must bow before entering the room."

The altar has since been removed, however there are huge posters and photos of Sam Walton throughout the store, more than any other Walmart than I have ever seen.

[veteran+]

"The name Sam Walton has always been an integral part of Walmart. I know of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the San Francisco Bay Area. It used to have what I would call a Sam Walton altar. It had his framed photo and a wooden table with candles, various offerings, and fancy objects. It was in an alcove at the door to an employee only room. It gave off a vibe of "All must bow before entering the room."

The altar has since been removed, however there are huge posters and photos of Sam Walton throughout the store, more than any other Walmart than I have ever seen."

I find that disturbing

[wnetmacman]

Walmart most likely wants to get rid of the Sam's Choice brand so that Sam's Club can be split off from Walmart. Sam's Club can be sold off and anything with the Sam's name will be eliminated from Walmart.

If many of you recall from Walmart lore, Sam's was a personal project of Sam Walton. He very specifically curated it and protected it.

It has been 32 years since his death. It is not a surprise that rumors of removing his name are surfacing.

I wouldn't buy that they are going to do it at all.

Sam's is too tightly woven into the company. To sell it off to just depend on Walmart would be troubling at best.

[ClownLoach]

Walmart most likely wants to get rid of the Sam's Choice brand so that Sam's Club can be split off from Walmart. Sam's Club can be sold off and anything with the Sam's name will be eliminated from Walmart.

If many of you recall from Walmart lore, Sam's was a personal project of Sam Walton. He very specifically curated it and protected it.

It has been 32 years since his death. It is not a surprise that rumors of removing his name are surfacing.

I wouldn't buy that they are going to do it at all.

Sam's is too tightly woven into the company. To sell it off to just depend on Walmart would be troubling at best.

Sam Walton didn't curate a damned thing at Sam's Club. He literally stole the entire concept from Sol Price and was proud of it. He met with Sol Price and picked his brain about his Price Club membership warehouses then studied the stores out West and made his own version starting in the South. Sam Walton of course had unlimited funds while Sol Price was dealing with being a startup firm. Walton eventually cornered Price who was potentially going to go out of business as Sam's had taken the #1 position nationally in membership warehouse stores and offered to buy the chain. However, a longtime protege of Price had started a similar chain in the PNW called Costco and Price sold the company to him instead. The newly created PriceCostco immediately eclipsed Sam's in size and took the #1 position back which they've never relinquished.

The primary difference is that Sam's remained a business focused store while Costco pivoted to a consumer store with separate "business centers" offering the business goods which are primarily delivered nationwide instead of being lugged to the business by the business owner. In my opinion, Sam's didn't really find their footing with consumers until the most recent iteration which began appearing about five years ago. This was after a "lost decade" where Sam's declined and stagnated under bad leadership while the company was entirely focused on expanding Walmart Supercenters and for a while it began to look like Sam's would be shut down entirely as an underperforming business unit. Sam's struggled and closed stores with years of negative comps while Costco and BJs both added stores which indicated that consumers wanted more membership warehouse format stores but Sam's had failed to deliver what they wanted. The new Sam's leadership team realized that the path to success was going in a completely different direction from "Walmart in bulk" and focusing on completely different customers instead of the decades long practices of trying to figure out how to get the Walmart customer to pay to go next door and buy more of the same stuff. This began the separation process which is clearly and obviously underway.

They have been building all the components of a separate company for about a decade, and the change in the quality of the store, product, and employee is night and day. Sam's was literally lower end Walmart product in bulk quantity, usually next door to Walmart, and for years didn't have a membership fee for consumers (they would just get a free card and pay a 5% surcharge).

They switched to their own sourcing entirely separate from Walmart and started designing and buying their own merchandise. They moved to one brand which represented highest quality like Costco did with Kirkland, and they benchmark against the brand names and Kirkland regularly with a invited panel of their top 10,000 members who are sent products for testing and rate them on surveys. That sourcing and customer panel piece has been essential for rebuilding the brand and somehow making the stores feel like they are carrying much more than they used to when in reality they cut about 2,000 SKUs in 5 years. Sam's still has about 1,500 more SKUs than Costco on display at any given time but they're buying them on their own and just having them delivered through the Walmart distribution network.

They have built out their own headquarters and model store ("Studio 83"). They built their own IT infrastructure which is now supporting Walmart who winds up adopting many of their developments.

The only thing stopping them from being a separate company is distribution, and they are currently in the works of constructing their own distribution center network separate of Walmart. I am not sure if they will fully separate or still contract with Walmart for some aspects of delivery, but the building of the first ten distribution centers is underway to support their first expansion of stores in years.

None of this costly work aside from the sourcing changes would be needed or a warranted expense if they did not have an ultimate goal of becoming a separate company.

They're never going to beat Costco. That much is a given. But there are a few examples of big retailers who have found their niche in 2nd place behind a big company. Target does just fine challenging Walmart even though they are about 10% of the size. Lowe's has been a constant thorn in the side of much larger Home Depot and has been experiencing a lot of success in the last couple of years as they remake their inventory by winning over many of the brands that built their primary competitor. Sam's Club is finally on the same level as Target and Lowe's, a viable 2nd place competitor that's in it for the long haul.

In many industries under the new economy with Amazon everywhere, there is no longer room for a 2nd place player and sometimes not even 1st. Circuit City died while Best Buy survived. Borders closed while Barnes & Noble carried on. Sports Authority failed while Dick's Sporting Goods succeeded. Sometimes even first doesn't work as we saw with Toys R Us and Bed Bath and Beyond. Sam's was headed down the path of these losing second place players but I think they have successfully changed their direction.

I have noticed ironically that Sam's features Helen Walton quotes instead of Sam Walton, another odd but key differentiator in their "family heritage" they like to discuss with their employees.

I think they will definitely move to separate as they will be completely unwoven from Walmart by the end of the decade and the elimination of the Sam name at Walmart is part of the eventual process. This would likely be more symbolic than anything else, but would be the largest retail IPO in history and potentially add incredible amounts of value to Walmart's books depending on how high the stock goes. The IPO will more than pay for the separation cost. It's not a matter of if, but when.

[wnetmacman]

Sam Walton didn't curate a damned thing at Sam's Club. He literally stole the entire concept from Sol Price and was proud of it. He met with Sol Price and picked his brain about his Price Club membership warehouses then studied the stores out West and made his own version starting in the South.

This process was taken on almost in its entirety by Sam himself. He handpicked folks who went against the stream, so to speak, within the company. Folks who weren't afraid to speak their minds. Sam's still runs that way. The only real difference is that he's no longer alive.

They have been building all the components of a separate company for about a decade, and the change in the quality of the store, product, and employee is night and day.

There has always been a difference; I shopped in Sam's in the mid 80's when they were still fairly new and everything about it was different. They only accepted one credit card then (Discover). They did not have any of the same merchandise.

Sam's was literally lower end Walmart product in bulk quantity, usually next door to Walmart, and for years didn't have a membership fee for consumers (they would just get a free card and pay a 5% surcharge).

I don't know what clubs you shopped - Sam's always required a membership. There was only one kind originally.

They switched to their own sourcing entirely separate from Walmart and started designing and buying their own merchandise.

Sam's own autobiography says this happened at the beginning by him standing up in a Saturday meeting and telling folks that just because they were buying for that category for Wal-Mart did *not* mean they were doing so for Sam's club as they had their own merchandising team.

None of this costly work aside from the sourcing changes would be needed or a warranted expense if they did not have an ultimate goal of becoming a separate company.

So I guess by that logic that they are separating grocery too? Because it has its own distribution network already.

Sports Authority failed while Dick's Sporting Goods succeeded.

I would hardly call Dick's a big success - I see more empty stores of Dick's than open. And they fail to do a lot of things.

I have noticed ironically that Sam's features Helen Walton quotes instead of Sam Walton, another odd but key differentiator in their "family heritage" they like to discuss with their employees.

That is to prove that they support women in management, something they did not always do.

To quote you in another topic - let's agree to disagree on this one.