Supervalu’s Andrew Abraham believes that one key reason private brands are growing as they are is because retailers have gotten so much better at managing their brands all along the value chain. In his keynote presentation at Pack Expo Las Vegas, Abraham showed a classic example involving Supervalu’s private-label Equaline brand. The aisle-end shelving on the left is labor-intensive because individual packages must be removed from secondary packages and hand stacked. By contrast, the aisle-end display on the right takes advantage of retail-ready secondary packaging that makes restocking far less labor-intensive. In addition to the efficiency gains inherent in such “one-touch” restocking, the packaging on the right is much more effective in terms of brand communication and presents an “easy-shop” occasion for the consumer.
