Sam's Club product labels turn private

Long known for presenting national-brand merchandise, Wal-Mart's Sam's Club introduces new private-label Member's Mark line, in everything from soup to jeans.

New packages bearing the Member?s Mark logo have been available for several months. Many of the early packages use flexible ma
New packages bearing the Member?s Mark logo have been available for several months. Many of the early packages use flexible ma

This summer, Sam's Club, the warehouse store division of Bentonville, AR-based Wal-Mart, began to distribute an increasing variety of products sold under the Member's Mark(TM) brand, the newest private-label brand for the wholesale club stores.

The Wal-Mart division also added David Shelky as director of private label for Sam's Club. Shelky, Packaging World is told, coordinates the work of in-house buyers in establishing product and packaging standards. Originally, the decision to move to private-label products is believed to have come from Mark Hanson, the company's CEO, who had led the PetsMart chain of pet care stores. However, from the initiation of this project to the Member's Mark announcement, Mark Hanson is rumored to have left the retailing giant, although the chain would not verify his departure.

Will this executive-level departure affect Sam's Club move to private-label products? It's too early to tell, and no one in Bentonville is speculating-at least on the record to PW. Still, the move to private label would serve one primary goal: to carry a reminder of Sam's Club into shoppers' homes. In the past, consumer purchases of national brands at Sam's Club left the shopper with nothing to associate satisfaction with the products to the store where they were purchased.

PW contacted the Member's Mark design firm, Source/Inc. (Chicago, IL) and attempted to speak with David Shelky at Sam's Club. After questions were presented to Shelky, Elda Jurado Scott, a Sam's Club spokeswoman, told PW that Shelky and the company "were not prepared to participate" in a story. In fact, Scott says Shelky told her that Sam's hasn't yet "really launched the brand."

Bill O'Connor, Source president, is also surprised by the lack of merchandising at store level. After all, the project began last year, and Member's Mark was introduced in what Sam's Club people call their "year-beginning show," a closed trade show for Sam's associates held in early spring '98.

"Not only do we wish our new brand to increase sales of private-label merchandise, but also more importantly, we are convinced that a strong and unified branding system will more effectively communicate our core message of value-the best quality at the best price," Shelky said. He has a tough job: promoting the new brand without upsetting the national brands that Sam's will still depend upon for much of its offerings.

The first products to bear the new brand include vitamins, detergent, coffee, creamer, trail mix, frozen vegetables, paper goods, apparel and luggage. PW had hoped to detail the specifics of a package printing change to the new brand, but the company declined to identify any manufacturers in the program.

"A whole resurgence of private label has been taking place in different markets," O'Connor says. "Shoppers throughout North America have learned in supermarkets that the President's Choice brand is a guarantee of quality as good or better than national brands. I think Member's Mark will be recognized in the same way."

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