Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introducing New 'Gourmet' Private Brand

Private Brand Showcase
News/Analysis

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is introducing a new private brand - 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' - in most of its stores this week, starting with a line of refrigerated, ready-to-heat fresh-prepared meals, heat-and-eat refrigerated soups, and a line of heat-and-serve frozen meals.

The new brand is actually better described as a new "co-brand" because Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market uses its exiting "Fresh & Easy Kitchen" brand name along with "Gourmet" on the packaging, making it a co-branding effort similar to what the grocer does with its 'Fresh & Easy goodness' brand.

As you can see in the photograph above though, the focus of the name of the new brand is clearly "Gourmet," with "Fresh & Easy kitchen" being secondary, both in font size and label placement on the product packages.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has not formally announced or introduced its new private brand.

Fresh meals

The initial line of 'Fresh & Easy kitchen Gourmet' refrigerated, ready-to-heat meals includes the following upscale-sounding varieties: Chicken Milano, Fontina Chicken, Portabella Mushroom Pappardelle (pasta), Apricot Pork Tenderloin, Slow Braised Beef, Braised Lamb Shank, Mediterranean Salmon, Lobster Ravioli, and Champagne Shrimp.

The fresh, ready-meals retail for $5.99-$6.99 everyday, depending on the variety. In addition to the fresh-prepared meals, there's also a refrigerated, ready-to-heat soup line under the new private brand. The first two items being launched this week in the gourmet soup line are French Onion and Crab & Sweet Potato Bisque.

Frozen meals

The first items being introduced this week in the 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' frozen meals line are: Braised Beef in Red Wine Sauce, Pork with Portobello Mushroom Sauce, and Mediterranean-Style Fisherman Stew.

All three frozen meals are priced at $6.99 each.

Additional private brand upscaling

Late last year we noted in two stories in Private Brand Showcase - December 23, 2010: New Items Show Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Niche-Specialty Category Private Brand Development Focus and December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market - that the new private brand and new item development at Tesco's Fresh & Easy has been and will continue to be headed in a more upscale/premium/specialty niche or focus rather than in a discount or price-focused direction. The grocer's new 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' brand, its first new private brand of 2011, offers added evidence that our analysis is correct.

The brand is not only premium and upscale in its actual name - "Gourmet" - but also in the nature - the product names and ingredients - of the first batch of SKUs introduced in the fresh and frozen product lines.

The $5.99-$6.99 price points are in range as well, although its our analysis that the jury will be out for some time as to whether or not Fresh & Easy is able to obtain repeat sales on the items, considering the portion size/price point combination. Shoppers are trading up compared to the previous three years. However, spending $28, the cost of buying four fresh or frozen meals for a family of four, is something many shoppers aren't likely ready to do on a regular basis at present.

Fresh & Easy's prices on the items are in line with many of its competitors, and lower than some of its other competitors, however.

Fresh & Easy's private brand lineup

The addition of the 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' brand (or co-brand) brings to five the number of private brands Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market currently has in its portfolio. Those five retailer brands are:

>Private brand name: fresh&easy = basic store brand. Categories so far: across all store categories: Dry grocery. Refrigerated. Frozen. Includes natural and organic products.

>Private brand name: eatwell = healthy foods' brand. Categories so far: Refrigerated and fresh-prepared foods, frozen, dry grocery.

>Private brand name: fresh & easy goodness = private brand targeted to kids, with a healthy foods' focus. Categories so far: dry grocery/drinks

>Private brand name: Mother's Joy = line of breakfast cereals. Categories so far: dry grocery. Just the cereal line.

>Private brand name: fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet = gourmet/premium brand. Categories so far: fresh-prepared foods, frozen.

>Private brand name: retreat = non-foods brand. Categories so far: Health and body care.

Gourmet

According to our sources, Tesco's Fresh & Easy doesn't currently have immediate plans to extend the 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' brand into other categories, such as dry grocery, beyond its current fresh-prepared refrigerated foods and frozen food categories.

However, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market usually starts a new store brand out, except for its fresh&easy flagship private brand, with products in just one and sometimes two categories. This was the case with its 'eatwell' healthy foods brand. The grocer launched the brand in early 2010 with a line of ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods items. A few months later Fresh & Easy extended the brand into the dry grocery category, followed by branding a line of frozen meals under 'eatwell,' all in the same year, as we reported on and wrote about here.

As such, we will be watching the further development of Fresh & Easy's new 'fresh & easy kitchen Gourmet' private brand throughout the year.

Private Brand Showcase: 2011 stories

January 20, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program

January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011

January 5, 2011: Safeway Adds 'Open Nature' to its Natural-Organic-Healthy Foods' Private Brand Portfolio

January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

[Click private brand showcase for a selection of stories from 2010.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

Private Brand Showcase
Private brand in-store merchandising & promotion

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" this week. It wants them to do so by buying, loading their home freezers with, and eating multiple packages of its 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals, which the grocer is promoting and displaying in end-cap, coffin-case freezer displays in all 156 of its Fresh & Easy markets in California, Nevada and Arizona this week.

As you can see in the photographs above and below, the freezer case displays feature large point-of-purchase signs touting the 'eatwell' frozen meals and the $1.49 unit promotional price point.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, has been promoting its 'eatwell' brand aggressively since the first week of January. Such healthy foods' brand and item promotions are a common theme for grocers at the start of a new year. Think of the promotions as a "new year, get healthy" type of hook for food retailers, which taps into consumers' resolutions and other goals, which often includes eating more healthy foods.

This month, the grocer also introduced a number of new items under its 'eatwell' brand, which includes products in the fresh-prepared foods, dry grocery and frozen categories, as we reported and wrote about recently in these two stories - January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011 and January 4, 2011 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell.'

Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was extending its 'eatwell' private brand into the dry grocery and frozen food categories, from fresh-prepared foods, last year. [See - August 2010 piece - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category. Also - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category and September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is focusing big on 'eatwell' frozen for January and into February. Along with the large and colorful in-store displays, the grocery chain is advertising the 'eatwell' frozen meals this week in its weekly advertising circular, for $1.49 each. The $1.49 promotional price began on January 12 and runs until February 11, 2011. The items sell for $1.99 regularly. [See - January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program.]

The conclusion to the big 'eatwell' frozen case in-store displays and advertised promotion: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market obviously doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" - it wants them to buy, stock their freezers with and eat lots of 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals.
[The photos at top were taken this week by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program

Private brands & grocery merchandising
News/Analysis

Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market today launched a new everyday low-price-oriented merchandising program in its 156 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, in which it's guaranteeing the shelf prices on a selected number of its private brand items for an extended period of time. Fresh & Easy is calling the shelf prices on the selected group of items: "extra low every day."

Among the first batch of products included in the program include: 'fresh&easy' apple juice, in a 64 ounce bottle ($1.99); a multi-pack of 'f'resh&easy' brand bone-in loin pork chops ($1.99 pound); a multi-pack of 'fresh&easy' chicken breasts (1.99 pound); and assorted varieties of 'fresh&easy' packaged pasta (99 cents each).

Additional private brand items in the new everyday low-price-oriented program include various varieties of fresh&easy brand packaged cheese, ice cream, pre-packaged fresh lettuce items, and bagged vegetable steamers.

The shelf prices on the first batch of private brand items in the new everyday low-price-oriented merchandising program, which have shelf signs featuring the item price and the words "every day" below it, are guaranteed for about two months - from today -to- March 22, 2011. After March 22 Fresh & Easy reserves the right to raise the prices on the products, although it may or may not do so.

Based on our research, the shelf prices on the items listed above with the "extra low everyday low-prices" listed are the same as they were before Tesco's Fresh & Easy launched the program this week. That's not to say the price points are good or bad. Rather, its to say the price points on those specific items weren't lowered from what the shelf prices were a few weeks ago. The pasta price of 99 cents a unit everyday is excellent, for example. On the other hand, a number of the other items are about the same as what nearly all of Fresh & Easy's competitors offer on their respective private brands of the same variety.

The key proposition in the new merchandising program though, in our analysis, is the "price guarantee," in which the grocer is pledging not to raise the "extra low every day" shelf prices on the selected items for a given period of time.

EDLP, high-low, or both?

At first blush Fresh & Easy's new everyday low-price-oriented (EDLP) merchandising program looks like a move by the grocer to become more of an EDLP operator, rather than the hybrid EDLP/high-low grocer it currently is.

However, that's not the case. In addition to launching the merchandising program in the stores this week, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market also distributed a spate of its deep-discount store coupons today, which included a $6-off purchases of $30 (20%-off) or more coupon online and a $5-off purchases of $2o (25%-off) or more in its direct-mailed paper advertising circular.

The grocer also continues to distribute an online and direct-mailed weekly promotional circular, which features various items at reduced prices for a one week period of time.

The deep-discount store coupons, which can be used by shoppers on any of the retailer's private brands or manufacturer brands offered in the Fresh & Easy markets - the coupon amount is taken off customers' total grocery order purchase - is a promotional device and therefore part of high-low food and grocery retailing philosophy and practice - particularly because Fresh & Easy uses the coupons regularly - rather than a merchandising philosophy normally associated with EDLP grocers.

Many high-low retailers, such as Walmart and WinCo Foods, to name two that operate in the same markets as Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market does, use promotional mailers, coupons and other promo devices occasionally, but not on a regular basis like Fresh & Easy does. These retailers focus primarily on everyday low shelf pricing, using promotions at times as a device to stimulate customer draw and sales.

Fresh & Easy, on the other hand, is what we call a mixed or hybrid EDLP/high-low operator because the grocer uses the EDLP philosophy and practice and the high-low promotional variant equally in its stores.

It is our analysis though that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason and his senior executive team, at least conceptually, have launched the "extra low every day low prices" merchandising program in the hope if it's successful down the road it could allow the grocer to stop distributing its deep-discount store coupons on a regular basis, as it has been doing chronically since 2008.

The 20% and 25%-off coupons take a big bite out of the fresh food and grocery chain's overall margin, which currently is in the cellar, at a negative-38%. Mason and company must get this margin up significantly, say at least in the low plus-twenty percentile, in order to have a chance of ever making a profit with Fresh & Easy, in our analysis.

Tesco has set the end of its 2012/13 fiscal year, a little over two years from now, to break-even with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Tesco lost $151 million on Fresh & Easy in the first half of its current fiscal year - 2010/11. The current fiscal year is over at the end of February 2011.

Significantly reducing the frequency of, or eliminating completely, the deep-discount store coupons will be a tough slog for Fresh & Easy though because, by using them so regularly, the chain has created a perception among shoppers that the vouchers, and the 20%-25% discount (if used to buy the minimum dollar purchase required) they offer, is a normal part of the grocer's pricing policy. In other words, a perception exists among customers, in our observation and analysis, that without the coupons the prices at the Fresh & Easy stores are too high.

The evidence of this phenomenon is two fold: When in the past Fresh & Easy tried to not use the store coupons for a couple months in 2009, sales in the stores dropped, and customers complained about the lack of coupons to the grocer in huge numbers, many saying that without the coupons they were not shopping in the stores or buying much less when they did shop at Fresh & Easy.

The retailer responded to these twin developments in 2009 by resuming regular distribution of the discount coupons, something its continued on a regular basis ever since, including this month.

Extra-low - everyday

Obviously it's too early to offer an analysis on the efficacy of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's new everyday low-price-oriented merchandising program, since it is just starting. However, we can see pitfalls with the program, as well as some potential positive opportunities.

Overall though, it's our analysis right now that the program isn't going to have any material benefit on Fresh & Easy's sales. Even more important - and obvious - it will do nothing directly to help increase the grocery chain's gross margin.

The program could over time possibly help create a better overall customer price perception of Fresh & Easy. However, a true picture of how the stores can do will not come until the grocer stops - and perhaps it never will - using the deep-discount store coupons on a chronic basis.

For example, Fresh & Easy seldom lets more than two or three days pass between the expiration date of a batch of coupons and the distribution of a new batch. A good test would be to issue the coupons for just one week out of each month. Then we could see how the stores do for the other three weeks out of the month when the coupons offering 20%-25%-off shoppers' total grocery purchases aren't available.

We don't see this happening though. Why: Because it's our analysis that without the regular distribution of the coupons as described above, sales at the Fresh & Easy stores would drop substantially, despite the fact the everyday prices in the stores are decent, and despite the fact the chain distributes a decent promotional circular each week.

It's not too early to offer this, however: What we call the "Fresh & Easy coupon conundrum"and the associated issues described above is something incoming Tesco CEO Philip Clarke, who takes over the corner office at Tesco's corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom in early March, should be very concerned about.

Related Stories

Click on the following links - corporate merchandising, deep discount coupons, grocery merchandising, private brand showcase, promotional merchandising, store discount coupons, Fresh and Easy promotional-ad flyer, Fresh and Easy $6-off store coupon - to view a selection of related stories in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011

Private Brand Showcase
If it's about 'eatwell' - you read it here first

In September 2010 Fresh & Easy Buzz reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would be introducing a number of new ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods SKUs, and a couple items in other categories, under its 'eatwell' healthy foods brand, in January 2011. [See - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category and September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week.]

Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market is doing just that.

Additionally, in this piece - January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell' - on Tuesday, we reported that some of those new items were set to be introduced this week.

They are.

Further, we said in the story on Tuesday that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would feature the 'eatwell' brand, along with many of the new items in the line, in its weekly advertising circular, which came out a day later, on Wednesday, January 6.

The items are in the weekly ad, which started yesterday.

The ('eatwell') 411

Today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced the introduction of 11 new 'eatwell' brand items for 2011 - 10 fresh, refrigerated ready-to-eat or ready-to-eat SKUs and one Caesar salad dressing. The new 'eatwell' fresh-prepared foods items include: salads, wraps, soups, pasta dishes and meals. You can view a listing of the 11 new items here.

Additionally, although it's not mentioned in the press release, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has extended its 'eatwell' brand SKU-count in the shelf-stable dry grocery category, adding a new item, 'eatwell' veggie crackers, to its existing two items in the line, canned turkey and vegetarian chili.

The veggie cracker (in a 7 ounce box) SKU is the first of what Fresh & Easy plans to be a line of snack crackers, and most-likely eventually other self-stable snacks, according to our sources, under its 'eatwell' healthy foods' brand.

Brand ('eatwell') extensions

Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report that the fresh food and grocery chain, which has 155 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, had extended its 'eatwell' brand into the dry grocery category. We did so in this August 2010 piece - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category.

We were also first to report Tesco's Fresh & Easy extended brand 'eatwell' into the frozen foods category. (See the two September 2010 stories linked in the first paragraph of this piece at top.)

In our story on Tuesday (January 4), we said Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would be featuring its 'eatwell' healthy foods' brand, including the frozen meals and many of the new items, in its weekly advertising circular, which broke on January 5 and runs until January 11.

The grocer has done just that. You can view the 'eatwell' feature in Fresh & Easy's current weekly ad here.

More ('eatwell') to come

We've said since we first broke the news in April 2010 about the development and launching of the 'eatwell' brand by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which it started out using for fresh-prepared foods only, that it was the grocer's plan to make its "healthy foods" private brand, and extend it into numerous additional categories, which so far include dry grocery and frozen foods, in addition to fresh-prepared foods.

That process will continue, along with the development of new 'eatwell' items in the fresh-prepared foods, shelf-stable dry grocery, frozen foods and refrigerated foods categories.

Stay tuned.

Recent stories in 'Private Brand Showcase'

January 5, 2011: Safeway Adds 'Open Nature' to its Natural-Organic-Healthy Foods' Private Brand Portfolio

January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

Click here to read a selection of stories from 'Private Brand Showcase' in 2010. See the headline links at the end of the post.

Safeway Adds 'Open Nature' to its Natural-Organic-Healthy Foods' Private Brand Portfolio

Private Brand Showcase

News/Analysis/Commentary

Safeway Stores, Inc. is rolling out a new natural foods private brand, 'Open Nature,' this week, starting with a variety of packaged products in the fresh poultry and meat categories.

The first 'Open Nature' brand items, which the grocer bills as "100% natural," are in the fresh poultry category, and include fresh boneless/skinless chicken breasts and a line of 12 ounce packages of chicken sausage, in a variety of flavor combinations.

Safeway Stores, Inc. was issued a U.S. trademark for 'Open Nature' - which as a non-organic natural foods brand fits in-between its popular 'O Organics' brand and its 'Eating Right' healthy foods' brand from a positioning standpoint - in June 2010, for use on products in the meats and processed food products; staple food products; and light beverage products segments, according to the filing with the federal trademark office.

Among the product categories included under the brand trademark include: soups; jams; jellies; potato-based and vegetable-based snack foods; and frozen entrees consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables, which means Safeway likely plans to extend the brand into categories beyond fresh meat and poultry.

The "100% natural" designation Safeway is using for 'Open Nature,' which is a brand claim used by numerous brand marketers and retailers, unlike the term "organic," which is regulated by the federal government, has no official or 100% agreed upon definition, although there's a consensus of sorts in the food industry as to what "natural" products should contain, nebulous as that definition may be.

Consumers though, with the exception of those very savvy in food product labeling and ingredient knowledge, have little concept as to what "natural" or "100% natural" means when they see it on a food label, which makes sense because as noted there's no officially regulated or objective definition as to what the attributes actually mean. It can be buyer beware.

Safeway, however, provides it own definition of "100% natural" on the labels of its new 'Open Nature' brand fresh poultry items. That definition includes the following attributes:

>Raised without antibiotics
>No added hormones
>All vegetarian fed
>No artificial ingredients
>Minimally processed

Keeping 'Open Nature' and '100% natural' honest

Let's take an evaluative look at each of the five brand product attributes as they pertain to the fresh boneless/skinless chicken breasts and the line of flavored chicken sausage.

1. Raised without antibiotics

This is a positive "natural" product attribute, since antibiotics are used in the raising of chickens by many farmers and processors. As such, it's an attribute that adds value.

2. No added hormones*

The U.S. federal government doesn't allow hormones to be used in the raising of poultry or pork. Therefore, while this attribute might serve to communicate to consumers who aren't aware of this law that the chicken breasts and the chicken in the sausage line are free from hormones, we can't call it a positive brand attribute of 'Open Nature,' since it's merely a marketing message because federal law doesn't allow hormones to be used in raising poultry or pork in the first place.

To Safeway's credit, it puts an * at the end of this attribute, and offers a label note communicating that federal law prohibits the use of hormones in the raising of poultry and pork.

3. All vegetarian fed

It's not clear by "all vegetarian fed" if Safeway means no grains of any type are fed to the chickens branded under the 'Open Nature' "100% natural brand."

Since grain is the primary feed for chickens, we doubt if the birds are vegan. Therefore, since vegetarian diets can also include grain, the attribute is positive only in so far as communicating to consumers that the birds aren't fed a diet that also includes meat-based feed.

There's some validity in this because some lower-end chicken is raised using various feeds, mixed with grains, that at times has been know to contain meat-by-products. But it's a fairly meaningless product attribute in our analysis.

4. No artificial ingredients

This is a good attribute in that many chicken products are injected with water or a saline solution to plump the birds up. In fact, this is a major issue in the poultry industry.

For example, the California Poultry Industry Federation, which represents the majority of poultry companies based in California, has been trying to get the federal government to prohibit the use of the term "natural" on whole chickens, chicken parts like breasts, and value-added chicken products that have such added artificial ingredients.

The California companies don't inject water or saline solutions into their birds. However, most other states allow it. The "no artificial ingredients" attribute is also valid in the case of value-added items like the 'Open Nature' chicken sausage because some brands include artificial ingredients in the product.

5. Minimally processed

This attribute has little meaning in our analysis. It suggests a semantic "naturalness" but in the case of fresh poultry and even the value-added chicken sausage line, one wouldn't expect the products to be highly-processed in the first place, would they?

Additionally, in terms of consumer information, there's really no definition of what "minimally processed" means. Rather, the definition is somewhat subjective, although a good rule of thumb, for example with chicken sausage, is that if the price of the product is extremely low, the product itself is most-likely more highly-processed than a more expensive product of the same kind. But even that rule of thumb is subjective.

Brand strategy: 'Open Nature' and the LOHAS consumer

Safeway's development of the 'Open Nature' natural foods brand, which in our analysis and opinion is an evocative and potentially strong brand name, is part of the retailer's strategy to appeal to and target what the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) has identified as the LOHAS - (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumer.

These "ethical" shoppers, which the NMI says comprises about one-fifth of all U.S. consumers, have a high degree of concern about health and the environment, and the ways the two are related. It's a lifestyle attribute rather than a demographic metric, like income, education-level and so on, although various demographic attributes like "college educated" and "higher income" do tend to correlate highly with those identified as LOHAS consumers.

The grocer's 'O Organics' and 'Eating Right' food and grocery brands, along with its 'In-Kind' brand of health and body care products, which was introduced in late 2010, and now its 'Open Nature' natural foods brand, are all part of the portion of Safeway Stores' private brand portfolio that's driven by the LOHAS consumer segment.

Safeway's other numerous private brands serve different positioning and marketing purposes, such as price-focused ('Safeway') and premium-focused ('Safeway Select').

In its private brand development and marketing department at corporate headquarters in Pleasanton, California, Safeway Stores' marketers and merchandisers working on the brands noted above talk often about appealing to what's also referred to as the "in me, on me, around me" consumer. These are folks, basically the same cohort as the LOHAS consumers, who care to a very significant degree about the types of foods they eat, the kinds of products they use on their bodies, the social and environmental issues surrounding how foods and non-food packaged goods are made, and how those combined factors or variables integrate with the communities they live in.

Safeway's fast-growing organic and locally-grown produce program, along with its across the board sustainability programs, are also targeted from a marketing positioning perspective to these LOHAS, "ethical" or "in me, on me, around me" consumers, who on a mass scale are the bread and butter customers of Whole Foods Market, Inc., for example.

As part of Safeway's LOHAS consumer-targeted private brand portfolio, brand 'Open Nature' fits a niche between 'O Organics' and 'Eating Right.' 'O' Organics hits both the organic and natural attributes; 'Eating Right' the healthy foods' hot button and; by virtue of that attribute also the natural foods hot button in most cases. 'Open Nature' focuses on the natural-foods-but-not-organic segment, which allows for a lower price point than the 'O Organics' brand items but still appeals to many aspects of the LOHAS consumer's values.

For example, Safeway currently has the 'Open Nature' "100% natural" boneless/skinless chicken breasts on promotion in its western U.S. stores, for $4.49 per pound. In contrast, when it runs its 'O Organics' organic boneless/skinless chicken breasts on ad, the promotional price-point is usually $5.99 pound, at the lowest end. Not all of the LOHAS-typed consumers can afford to pay $5.99 a pound for organic chicken breasts. But perhaps many of them can afford to pay $4.49 for the 'Open Source' "100% natural" version, trading off the organic attribute for the price savings, while still satisfying many of their values and needs.

Expect to see Safeway roll-out additional 'Open Nature' brand items, first in the fresh poultry and meat categories, but also in other product categories, throughout 2011.

Also expect to see the grocer add numerous new items to its other LOHAS consumer-focused brands - 'O Organics,' which with sales of over a $1 billion annually is the highest-grossing organic foods brand in the U.S., 'Eating Right,' and 'In-Kind' - throughout this year.

Recent and 2010 stories in 'Private Brand Showcase'

January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

December 23, 2010: New Items Show Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Niche-Specialty Category Private Brand Development Focus

December 21, 2010: New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux

December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition

October 9, 2010: 'Use Me': Should Reusable Packaging Be Part of Tesco's Sustainable Private Brand Offering? A Student-Designer Thinks So

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet IdeaMay 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

Private Brand Showcase

In August 2010 we reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market had extended its 'eatwell' healthy foods private brand into the dry grocery category, from an initial launch of the brand in the fresh-prepared foods category earlier in the year, by creating a canned turkey chili item. [See - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

We followed that exclusive report up a month later in early September with a story - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category - detailing how Tesco's Fresh & Easy planned to further extend the 'eatwell' brand into the frozen foods category. And in this piece a couple weeks later - September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week - we documented our September 10 report.

Today, many months later, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is formally announcing and promoting the new 'eatwell' canned turkey chili and its "new" line of 'eatwell' frozen meals, in its "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail newsletter, which you can view here. The e-mail promotional piece went out today to members of "Friends of Fresh & Easy."

In the promotional piece, pictured at top, Tesco's Fresh & Easy says: "We expanded our eatwell line to make eating better even better. So you'll now find more ready meals, salads, sandwiches, and soups, along with all-new items like snacks and frozen meals. Each eatwell item is made with 25% or less of the daily recommended value of calories, total and saturated fat, and sodium.* Best of all, they're just as affordable as they are delicious."

The frozen meals line and canned turkey chili in the promotional piece are the items Fresh & Easy Buzz reported on five months ago.

Some of the new 'eatwell' brand fresh-prepared foods items in today's 'Friends of Fresh & Easy" promotional piece were introduced late last year. However, most of the refrigerated ready-tp-eat and ready-to-heat items are brand new, being introduced for the first time this week. Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report on Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's plans to launch the 'eatwell' brand last year. [See - April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line and April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7.]

In our September 2010 stories about the extension of the 'eatwell' brand into the frozen foods category, we noted that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market planned to introduce additional fresh-prepared foods items under the healthy foods' brand in early 2011. The ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat items mentioned above are the first of those new items for the new year.

Fresh & Easy is also working on additional 'eatwell' brand items in the dry grocery and frozen foods category, according to our sources, including shelf-stable snacks and potentially condiments and dressings.

Additionally, the grocer is considering extending its 'eatwell' private brand into perishable foods other than ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat and frozen. Such items could include refrigerated dairy, salad dressing and similar items.

As we've noted in past stories, Fresh & Easy's brand strategy behind 'eatwell' is to make it a multi-category healthy foods' brand similar to what Safeway Stores has done with its 'Eating Right" brand, which Safeway uses across all product categories, including dry grocery, perishables, prepared foods/deli, produce and fresh meat.

Apparently, Fresh & Easy wasn't ready to announce or promote the 'eatwell' frozen food line last year - instead saving it perhaps for the beginning of the new year so it could use it as a "Healthy New Year" promotional hook, which is exactly what it's doing with the "Friends of Fresh & Easy' promotional mailer today. Additionally, as a heads up, look for many of the 'eatwell' healthy foods items to be in Fresh & Easy's new weekly advertising circular, the first one for 2011, which comes out tomorrow.

Readers of Fresh & Easy Buzz, didn't have to wait until now though, or until they visited a Fresh & Easy market, to learn about the 'eatwell' brand dry grocery and frozen category brand extensions because we reported the news, along with providing analysis and added information, in August and September of 2010. We call that "private brand intelligence."

[Private Brand Showcase is a regular feature of Fresh & Easy Buzz. In it we report on, write about and offer analysis and commentary on the fast-growing private or retailer brand (sometimes called private label) movement, along with featuring various private brand products being offered by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and other food and grocery retailers. This is our first 'Private Brand Showcase' piece for 2011. Below is a selection of 2010 stories.]

December 23, 2010: New Items Show Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Niche-Specialty Category Private Brand Development Focus

December 21, 2010: New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux

December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition

October 9, 2010: 'Use Me': Should Reusable Packaging Be Part of Tesco's Sustainable Private Brand Offering? A Student-Designer Thinks So

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea

May 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

New Items Show Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Niche-Specialty Category Private Brand Development Focus

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has gone decidedly niche and specialty products-oriented with three new food and drink items it recently introduced, pegged to the November-December holiday season, under its fresh&easy private brand.

The three new fresh&easy brand products fall clearly into the specialty food and drink category because they are niche-oriented consumer packaged goods items and feature gourmet or organic product attributes, and in case of the coffee also offer a fair trade attribute, along with the organic.

Below is our rundown on the three new items, followed by some analysis on Fresh & Easy's current private brand development focus:

Holiday Blend Coffee

The fresh&easy Holiday Blend coffee - pictured here - is a seasonal item introduced by the grocer for the November-December-New Year holiday period. The special blend coffee features both organic and fair trade coffee beans. [You can read about fair trade here. There are different definitions of what is considered fair trade, along with different certifications. In other words, it's somewhat buyer beware when the words fair trade are used on products.]

Pumpkin Pecan Waffle & Pancake Mix

The recently introduced fresh&easy Pumpkin Pecan Waffle & Pancake Mix is designed to be merchandised in the store all year but has a clear fall and holiday season focus to it, which is why Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has introduced it when it has.

The quick-prepare-and-cook product (pictured above) contains the dry mix and pecans, and requires adding eggs, milk, oil/or butter. The private brand specialty pancake and waffle mix is made without artificial colors or flavorings, is free of trans-fats, and contains no high-fructose corn syrup. It currently retails for has $3.99, based on store visits this week.

Cranberry Walnut Loaf

The new fresh&easy brand Cranberry Walnut Loaf specialty bread (pictured below) is made for Tesco's Fresh & Easy by its bread vendor Il Fornaio. The 16 ounce loaf contains cranberries, walnuts, raisins, pecans and citrus.

Interestingly, Walmart recently introduced a nearly identical Cranberry Walnut Loaf under its "Marketside" private brand. See a picture at our story here - December 21, 2010: New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux.

Analysis: Niche, specialty private brand focus

In a recent Private Brand Showcase piece - December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market - we noted that based on our ongoing research and analysis, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market this year has been putting the majority of its consumables private brand development and new item introduction focus in the specialty foods, natural-organic and healthy foods' niche categories rather than into the development of more mainstream or mass market types of packaged food and grocery products. The three items featured in this piece lend further evidence to our observation and analysis.

Its our further analysis the grocer will continue with this niche-oriented specialty products focus in the consumables category next year.

That doesn't mean Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market won't introduce any new mainstream packaged goods items. Rather it means the Tesco-owned 155-store fresh food and grocery chain will put its focus on the specialty, natural-organic and healthy foods' categories, looking even more and more like Trader Joe's, for example, when it comes to retailer brand development and merchandising.

A key reason we believe Fresh & Easy has been and will continue to put a majority focus on niche and specialty oriented categories with its private brand development is two-fold.

First, the grocer believes doing so will help it to build a larger and stronger customer following based on its private brands and products.

Second, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market hopes a focus on the specialty-premium, natural-organic, and healthy foods' categories, where the items tend to have higher price-points and gross margins, will help it to achieve two essential goals: increase the average market basket sales in its stores and increase Fresh & Easy's current negative-38% overall margin.

Tesco says it will break-even or show a slight profit with Fresh & Easy by the end of its 2012/13 fiscal year. In order to achieve that it must raise the negative-38% margin to at least something close to plus-20%. That's a tall order for any grocer.

[Private Brand Showcase is a regular feature of Fresh & Easy Buzz. In it we report on, write about and offer analysis and commentary on the fast-growing private or retailer brand (sometimes called private label) movement, along with featuring various private brand products being offered by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, along with those of other grocers and retailers operating various types of formats. Below is a selection of 2010 stories in our Private Brand Showcase]

Below is a selection of 2010 stories from our 'Private Brand Showcase'

December 21, 2010: New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux

December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition

October 9, 2010: 'Use Me': Should Reusable Packaging Be Part of Tesco's Sustainable Private Brand Offering? A Student-Designer Thinks So

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea

May 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux

Private Brand Showcase

In the Private Brand Showcase piece linked here - December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz - we wrote about (and included photographs) three new fresh food product lines, along with some new item line extensions, Walmart Stores, Inc. recently introduced under its fast-growing "Marketside" brand.

Today we thought we would give Fresh & Easy Buzz readers an additional pictorial look at some of the new items not pictured in the story on Saturday.

Pictured above, the items are, from left to right:

>"Marketside Mushroom And Cheese Half-Moons and Grilled Chicken and Spinach Ravioli. The varieties are two of the numerous SKUs (and shapes) in the new"Marketside" brand refrigerated fresh pasta line, which we wrote about in the in the Saturday piece. [See - December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

>"Marketside" Chicken Tortilla Soup. This a fairly new item (line extension) Walmart has added to it existing "Marketside" line of ready-to-heat, fresh-refrigerated soups. [See - February 28, 2010: Walmart Introducing New Ready-To-Heat Prepared Entrees, Fresh Soups Under its Marketside Brand]

>"Marketside" Classic Smooth Guacamole. This SKU is a larger version (2/7oz Trays instead of pouches) of the same item we ran a picture of in the piece on Saturday. That item: "Marketside" Classic Smooth Guacamole; but in 6/2oz Pouches instead of the trays. [See the photo at the December 18, 2010 story link above.

>"Marketside" Artisan Petite Cranberry Walnut Loaf. This new specialty bread is one of a number of new varieties Walmart is launching to go with its existing "Marketside" bread, roll and baked goods lines. [See - September 9, 2010: Walmart Introduces 'Marketside' Brand Packaged Fresh-Baked Breads, Sub Rolls and Chocolate Chunk Cookie]

>"Marketside" Roasted Garlic Hummus. The variety is one flacor in the multi-SKU new line of "Marketside" packaged, fresh-refrigerated Hummus.

As we noted in the story on Saturday, Walmart Stores, Inc. is developing additional new "Marketside" private brand fresh food lines, and preparing to introduce some of those new lines, along with numerous new item line extensions, in the first half of 2011.

Stay tuned.

Related Stories

March 31, 2010: Walmart Adds Additional Marketside Fresh Food Items to Marketside.com Not Long After Our February Reports

March 9, 2010: Walmart Adds Two More SKUs to its Marketside Ready-To-Heat Fresh, Prepared Entree Line

March 2, 2010: Walmart Launching New 'Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa' Line Under its Fast-Growing Fresh Foods Store Brand

February 28, 2010: Walmart Launching New Value-Added Pre-Packaged Fresh Produce Line Under its Marketside Fresh Foods Brand

[Private Brand Showcase is a regular feature of Fresh & Easy Buzz. In it we report on, write about and offer analysis and commentary on the fast-growing private or retailer brand (sometimes called private label) movement, along with featuring various private brand products being offered by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, along with those of other grocers and retailers operating various types of formats. Below is a selection of 2010 stories in our Private Brand Showcase]

Private Brand Showcase 2010

December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition

October 9, 2010: 'Use Me': Should Reusable Packaging Be Part of Tesco's Sustainable Private Brand Offering? A Student-Designer Thinks So

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea

May 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

[Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Sophistisishe.com.]

Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

Private Brand Showcase: Fresh Foods

Walmart Stores, Inc. has been busy creating and launching new fresh food product lines under its "Marketside" private brand, along with adding new SKUs to its existing lines, since we last reported on and wrote about the introduction of a new line of "Marketside"artisan breads and related baked goods in September. [Read the story - September 9, 2010: Walmart Introduces 'Marketside' Brand Packaged Fresh-Baked Breads, Sub Rolls and Chocolate Chunk Cookie.]

Since then, Walmart has launched three notable new "Marketside" lines: a line of ready-to-use refrigerated dips (for chips, crackers, fruits and veggies); a cook-in-three-minute fresh, refrigerated pasta line; and a companion line of ready-to-heat fresh-prepared pasta sauces.


Dips: The extensive line features numerous SKUs, including Guacamole; a range of ranch dips like Chipotle Ranch and Buttermilk Ranch; Bleu Cheese; a cream cheese and vanilla bean fruit dip; and others.


Fresh Pasta: The "Marketside" line of fresh, refrigerated pasta includes numerous pasta shapes, along with ravioli and tortelloni varieties filled with meat and cheese, like the Three Cheese Tortelloni pictured above. All of the fresh pasta varieties take three minutes to boil.

Pasta Sauce: The "Marketside" refrigerated, fresh-prepared pasta sauces come in tomato-based and cream varieties, as well as pesto. The cream-based sauce varieties include the Asiago and Smoked Provolone cheese sauce pictured above. The tomato-based marinara sauce varieties include the Tuscan-Style Marinara Sauce, also pictured above.

Walmart has yet to add the new "Marketside" fresh pasta, pasta sauce and dip lines, as well as some of the new SKUs added to the existing lines, to its Marketside.com product website.

Walmart's "Marketside" private brand now includes lines and products in the fresh-prepared foods, fresh produce and bakery categories.

The fresh-prepared food lines include both ready-to-eat items - grab-and-go salads and sandwiches; party trays; Rotisserie chicken and other meat and non-meat items and side dishes; plus the dips and sauces - and ready-to-heat or quick-cook items, such as entrees, side dishes, pizzas, pastas and sauces.

There's also a line of "Marketside" packaged fresh cheese and a line of packaged lunch meats which are sold in some Walmart stores.

The fresh food products are sold in the retailer's Walmart Supercenter, Walmart Neighborhood Market and marketside by Walmart banner stores in the U.S. Additionally, selected "marketside" items are also sold in some of the retailer's discount format stores.

The product grouping above - the ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken and take-and-bake pizza, along with a bag of fresh spinach, a loaf of fresh bread and a cookie - is a good graphic depiction of the "home meal replacement" marketing positioning focus Walmart is using for its "Marketside" fresh foods brand.

Home meal replacement positioning, building brand buzz

Walmart's strategic vision and marketing strategy for "Marketside" is to create a multi-line family of fresh food products and position them to shoppers as an affordable, fresh and high-quality "home meal solutions" brand and concept, which it has started doing, using a handful of marketing and promotional vehicles.

The retailer's new campaign for "Marketside," which began the first week of November, is designed to create online buzz around the brand by engaging food-oriented bloggers and "mommy" bloggers, many who are members of Walmart's moms' blogger group.

The "home meal replacement" positioning for brand "Marketside" is the central theme of the campaign. Boulder, Colorado-based design and corporate identity firm Mighty Fudge Studios, the creators of the "Marketside" product packaging, prepared an attractive and detailed collateral piece for the week-long promotion. The package was sent to the bloggers as an information piece about the brand, along with inviting them to receive a selection of free "Marketside" products over a period of time, which they could try and hopefully write about in their respective blogs, thereby creating some desired online grassroots buzz for and around the brand.

The marketing communications piece (pictured above) uses the "home meal solutions" positioning as its overall theme, focusing the "Marketside" brand message on that key element.

A number of the food-oriented and "mommy" bloggers who received the free products and market communication piece have since posted about the "Marketside" products, along with posting recipes they created using the fresh food items.

More brand 'Marketside' to come

In addition to introducing the new "Marketside" fresh food lines, Walmart has added new SKUs to many of its existing lines over the last couple months, such as new fresh bread items, ready-to-heat refrigerated soup varieties, value-added produce items and a some others.

New line creation and SKU expansion are far from over at Walmart for brand "Marketside." The retailer is currently working on additional new fresh food lines, including prepared-foods, and new SKUs to add to the existing lines, for introduction in the first half of 2011.

Stay tuned.

Related Stories

September 9, 2010: Walmart Introduces 'Marketside' Brand Packaged Fresh-Baked Breads, Sub Rolls and Chocolate Chunk Cookie

March 31, 2010: Walmart Adds Additional Marketside Fresh Food Items to Marketside.com Not Long After Our February Reports

March 9, 2010: Walmart Adds Two More SKUs to its Marketside Ready-To-Heat Fresh, Prepared Entree Line

March 2, 2010: Walmart Launching New 'Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa' Line Under its Fast-Growing Fresh Foods Store Brand

February 28, 2010: Walmart Introducing New Ready-To-Heat Prepared Entrees, Fresh Soups Under its Marketside Brand

February 28, 2010: Walmart Launching New Value-Added Pre-Packaged Fresh Produce Line Under its Marketside Fresh Foods Brand

House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has introduced a new, two-item line of sparkling cider under its 'fresh&easy' private brand, just in time for the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, which is the key retailing period for the fizzy, fruit-flavored non-alcoholic beverages.

The house brand sparking cider (pictured at top) comes in two varieties - apple and grape. Apple is the leading flavor in the sparkling cider category in the U.S., followed by grape.

Both varieties of the 'fresh&easy' Sparkling Cider retail in the stores everyday for $2.29 bottle. This week Fresh & Easy has the items on promotion at $1.99 bottle.

The packaging for the sparkling ciders was designed for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market by London-based international design firm P&W, which has a solid history of product-packaging design in the United Kingdom for parent company Tesco, and has designed the packaging for numerous fresh&easy brand lines and items since the grocer began creating its private brand products at corporate headquarters in El Segundo, California in 2006-2007.

Sparkling ciders are primarily seasonal specialty beverage items in terms of sales frequency and movement. Category sales in the U.S. are highest during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period. Sales of the beverages also spikes during other festive holidays, such as Easter, Valentines Day and (particularly of apple) Halloween.

The fizzy and fruity beverages have also become a beverage choice of consumers for celebrations like birthdays and similar personal events because they offer a non-alcoholic but still festive option for their guests.

Emphasis on niche, specialty products

The new sparkling cider line fits with what has been the primary emphasis of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'fresh&easy' private brand new product development in the shelf-stable dry grocery and beverage segment over the last two years. That focus: Specialty or niche-oriented packaged goods products, including those with natural/organic and premium attributes.

For example, the Tesco-owned fresh food and grocery chain recently introduced a new line of imported premium chocolate cookies under its 'fresh&easy' brand.

Packaging for the cookie line was also designed by P&W.

The cookies, which are covered in Belgian chocolate and have a variety of different fillings, come in four varieties: Orange flavored Belgian Dark Chocolate; Coconut Belgian White Chocolate; Caramel Belgian Milk Chocolate; and Hazelnut Belgian Milk Chocolate (pictured below).
Another recent example of Fresh & Easy's specialty foods private brand focus include bagged plantain chips, which we wrote about in Private Brand Showcase in October - October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item. The niche item focuses on both specialty and natural attributes.

Two other recent examples of the specialty focus are the line of' 'fresh&easy' brand kids' cereal and fruit candies, both introduced earlier this year. See -October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition. Also see - July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy and June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea.

The kids' cereal line focuses on a niche market - kids - which makes it a specialty-oriented item rather than a mass-market one. The candies, which are in the shape of Fresh & Easy's clock logo, are niche and specialty-oriented as well, based on their unique shape and flavor profile.

The 'fresh&easy' brand is the fresh food and grocery chain's primary house brand.

Brand 'eatwell'

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's other private brands include 'eatwell,' which it introduced early this year, starting with a line of ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods. [See - April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7.]

The 'eatwell' brand is positioned as Fresh & Easy's healthy foods' brand, similar to what Safeway Stores has done with its 'Eating Right' brand, which it introduced a few years ago and has continued to expand. 'Eat Well' is approaching $1 billion in annual sales, according to Safeway Stores, Inc. CEO Steve Burd. To put the 'Eating Right' brand's sales in perspective, $1 billion is nearly double the most recently reported annual sales for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Over the summer, Tesco's Fresh & Easy then extended its 'eatwell' brand into the dry grocery category, introducing a canned chili item under the healthy foods' house brand. [See - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

Most recently, the grocer extended 'eatwell' into the frozen foods category, when it introduced a line of frozen meal items, based on the varieties of the 'eatwell' fresh-prepared foods entrees adn side-dishes, in September, as we reported on exclusively. [See - September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week.

Brand 'fresh&easy' 'goodness'

This year Fresh & Easy also expanded its 'fresh&easy goodness' co-branded (goodness is the primary brand name but the packaging also includes fresh&easy as a secondary brand name) line, which is targeted to kids as a healthy foods' alternative. [ See - August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy meighborhood Market is in the process of developing a number of new food and beverage items under the 'fresh&easy goodness' brand. The new items are scheduled to be introduced into the stores early next year, according to our sources.

Cousin (Trader) Joe

Fresh & Easy's dry grocery category private brand focus is looking even closer today to the Trader Joe's model and strategy than it did when the first Fresh & Easy stores opened in November 2007, as the 155-store Tesco-owned fresh food and grocery chain has increasingly focused on specialty-oriented packaged goods products, especially under its flagship fresh&easy house brand, as we detailed earlier.

From the start, Southern California-based Trader Joe's private brand product strategy, as well as its numerous store brands and products, were a model for Tesco's Fresh & Easy. The original Fresh & Easy corporate category managers who created the first fresh&easy brand products, for example, were told to look to TJ's efforts - and private brand products on the store shelves - for inspiration and ideas. And they did. That hasn't changed today.

But there's already a Trader Joe's, which happens to be considered to have the best private or retailer brand development program - and most favored store brands - of any grocery chain in the U.S., by what arguably is a majority of industry experts, as well as by consumers.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's private brand efforts aren't a complete clone of what Trader Joe's does. For example, Fresh & Easy offers numerous basic grocery products under the brand, while the majority of store brand items in Trader Joe's stores are specialty, natural and organic category packaged goods items.

But the similarities are extremely strong - and as we've suggested Fresh & Easy's private brand focus is in the specialty segment - which begs the question: Is there room for two small-format grocers, with stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, with very similar private brand category (specialty/premium/natural/organic) strategies and product offerings, particularly in the dry grocery packaged goods category?

Time will tell. After all, three are a lot of stomachs and kitchen pantries in the three Western U.S. states. But there's also an increasing number of grocer's, led by Trader Joe's, mining similar private brand grocery product retail ore as well.