Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

jamcool wrote: April 21st, 2021, 1:22 pm The problem is that shoppers at Jewel, Star, and Acme would wonder what the Hell is "Albertsons Brand"
Kroger uses its own name everywhere now and it works for them.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by arizonaguy »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: April 21st, 2021, 1:43 pm
jamcool wrote: April 21st, 2021, 1:22 pm The problem is that shoppers at Jewel, Star, and Acme would wonder what the Hell is "Albertsons Brand"
Kroger uses its own name everywhere now and it works for them.
I'm still not 100% convinced that Kroger won't rebanner most of the stores to Kroger within the next 5 years.

Maybe Albertsons can use something like Joe's Choice or Joe's Select or Skaggs Supreme for its private label.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by jamcool »

Albertsons primary private label before all of the mergers was Janet Lee (an Albertson relative?)
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

jamcool wrote: April 21st, 2021, 4:52 pm Albertsons primary private label before all of the mergers was Janet Lee (an Albertson relative?)
Yes, Janet Lee was discontinued in the late 90's.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by HCal »

arizonaguy wrote: April 21st, 2021, 2:19 pm
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: April 21st, 2021, 1:43 pm
jamcool wrote: April 21st, 2021, 1:22 pm The problem is that shoppers at Jewel, Star, and Acme would wonder what the Hell is "Albertsons Brand"
Kroger uses its own name everywhere now and it works for them.
I'm still not 100% convinced that Kroger won't rebanner most of the stores to Kroger within the next 5 years.
I would be shocked if that happened. Only around half of their stores are currently branded as Kroger, and they would be foolish to give up strong local brands for no reason. Albertsons made that mistake when acquiring Lucky, and it destroyed the company.

Back to the topic of the thread, I think Albertsons was foolish to remove the Safeway brand. Safeway was a storied brand going back a century, and Signature sounds like some generic nameplate for items you'd buy at a dollar store. I know that using the Safeway name would have caused issues in markets like Jewel, but their focus should be on their larger markets, i.e., California and the west.

Right now, they should stop worrying about premium private label brands like "Reserve" and focus on selling the main labels like Signature Kitchens and Lucerne at a more competitive price point. O Organics I think is doing well as it's actually at a good price point compared to organic national brands.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by veteran+ »

Actually Kroger's Simple Truth organics line is typically less expensive than O Organics. And, Kroger has increased their skus way past O Organics.

I have complained to Albertsons corporate about this. Shamed them and reminded them that they are the grand daddy of big chain store organics and they let late comer Kroger surpass them.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by rwsandiego »

HCal wrote: April 25th, 2021, 1:19 am ...Back to the topic of the thread, I think Albertsons was foolish to remove the Safeway brand. Safeway was a storied brand going back a century, and Signature sounds like some generic nameplate for items you'd buy at a dollar store. I know that using the Safeway name would have caused issues in markets like Jewel, but their focus should be on their larger markets, i.e., California and the west. ...
Speaking of Jewel, it was founded in 1899, 16 years prior to Safeway's founding. As a brand, it extended nationwide via Jewel Tea Company home shopping routes long before Safeway did and, for that matter, long before the first Jewel grocery stores were opened in 1932. However, I wouldn't advise Albertsons to use "Jewel" as a house brand any more than I'd advise them to use Safeway.

Given the number of chains Safeway acquired and proceeded to run into the ground, I don't think Albertsons would do themselves any favors by using "Safeway" as a house brand. If they intend to re-brand private label they should hire a respected branding firm to create a new set of brands.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: April 25th, 2021, 6:24 am Actually Kroger's Simple Truth organics line is typically less expensive than O Organics. And, Kroger has increased their skus way past O Organics.

I have complained to Albertsons corporate about this. Shamed them and reminded them that they are the grand daddy of big chain store organics and they let late comer Kroger surpass them.
Yes, the private label program is the one thing at Kroger that has kept humming along and continued to built stronger and stronger in the past five years and Simple Truth is a big part of that (along with the standard Kroger label).

However remember the Fred Meyer had Naturally Preferred/Naturally Preferred Organics private label from the 80's or 90's and that was what built the foundation for Simple Truth/Simple Truth Organic. I would argue Fred Meyer pioneered the concept of the natural/Organic private label but Safeway made a lot of noise about O Organics and then did a significant label expansion past the Naturally Preferred line, in conjunction with the Lifestyle Store program.

Using Safeway brand nationally definitely would not be a good move and I'm not sure using Albertsons brand nationally would be either. The problem with both brands is NorCal has a bad image of Albertsons and Chicago has a bad image of Safeway and those are two of the merged chain's highest profit markets.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by HCal »

storewanderer wrote: April 25th, 2021, 9:26 pm Using Safeway brand nationally definitely would not be a good move and I'm not sure using Albertsons brand nationally would be either. The problem with both brands is NorCal has a bad image of Albertsons and Chicago has a bad image of Safeway and those are two of the merged chain's highest profit markets.
I'm not sure I agree with this. There were never any stores under the Safeway banner in Chicago (at least not for several decades). Safeway brand products were sold at Dominick's, but I doubt people would remember or care. Jewel now sells brands that Dominick's used to sell, such as Lucerne, and that doesn't seem to be an issue.

But it seems like Albertsons management agreed with this, hence they went for a neutral brand by replacing the Safeway lines with corresponding Signature lines. Maybe they were trying to build on the momentum of Signature Cafe?

I might be old fashioned, but I think private label should be cheap rather than fancy. If they priced it better, it would sell better regardless of the name.
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Re: Albertsons Cos adding another house brand (wine)

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: April 25th, 2021, 10:25 pm I'm not sure I agree with this. There were never any stores under the Safeway banner in Chicago (at least not for several decades). Safeway brand products were sold at Dominick's, but I doubt people would remember or care. Jewel now sells brands that Dominick's used to sell, such as Lucerne, and that doesn't seem to be an issue.

But it seems like Albertsons management agreed with this, hence they went for a neutral brand by replacing the Safeway lines with corresponding Signature lines. Maybe they were trying to build on the momentum of Signature Cafe?

I might be old fashioned, but I think private label should be cheap rather than fancy. If they priced it better, it would sell better regardless of the name.
Actually in Chicago at Jewel at present they are selling various dairy items under the Jewel label. The Lucerne items are there on the lower moving SKUs, but on the high movement SKUs like gallon milk, dozen eggs- it is being run with Jewel brand and not Lucerne. And I am quite sure the Dominick's fiasco is why.

Also I am sure the folks in Chicago remember Safeway and how it destroyed Dominick's very well. It was less than 10 years ago...

Cheap but not fancy describes Kroger's successful private label program.
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