Romr123 wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2024, 2:58 am
To do a successful upper-end private label (cough, Presidents' Choice, cough) you've got to have dedicated product teams who have the mandate to create interesting offerings within the realm of the shopper you've got/want to get. It can't be a second-job for a mass private label product team.
You miiiiiight if you were Walmart be able to shoehorn something in to the rural half of the company which emulates Trader Joes (realizing that you're not going to appeal to anyone in these stores EXCEPT for the top 10% of the income mix in these communities who would be all over TJs if there was one within 100 miles). Only WM can figure out if this is worth pursuing (after the haircuts taken to keep it out of the wrong stores). Doubt they want to be that sophisticated about mix.
Just watched a couple episodes of a British reality show with local people trying to get their products into Aldi in the UK. There is a managing director of sourcing who's clearly a key executive...it's quite an interesting show with the people trying to get unique regional stuff in. The MD is quite candid, though, essentially saying that she won't get out of bed for less than 20k units being possible by one of these vendors. I've got to think that the vendor days at WM (Kroger, Meijer, etc) have much the same attitude.
President's Choice however is the same items in all tiers of stores Loblaw runs. They are in Loblaw and Provigo (higher tier), Great Canadian Superstore (mid to lower tier), and their price impact formats (I'm only familiar with Maxi&Cie from Quebec). They are just plain great products with quality that typically is better than brand names or unique ingredients (similar to Trader Joe's). For example they have a killer chocolate chip cookie called The Decadent that is priced lower than say Chips Ahoy. It is jam packed with butter and real chocolate, is absolutely addictive beyond belief, unquestionably the best chocolate chip cookie in the entire aisle, and a fantastic deal.
They also offer the 1980s style generic plain label called "No Name" that you used to see on the shelves with monochromatic packaging and no pictures as the low end cheap store brand. Again it's offered at every store.
The difference is that when you walk into the deluxe Provigo you're going to see an endcap of President's Choice pasta and sauce, but if you walk into the Maxi&Cie it's going to have "No Name" pasta and sauce on the endcap.
President's Choice is exactly the kind of product line Walmart should be pursuing. I don't think this Bettergoods is it.
