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

Walmart Plans to Close Arizona 'marketside by Walmart' Stores, Dump Format By Year-End or Early 2011

The History - and End - of Walmart's 'marketside by Walmart' Format and Stores in Five Acts

Act 1: The beginning

We've been watching, reporting on and analyzing Walmart Stores, Inc.'s 'marketside by Walmart' (originally called just 'marketside') four-store chain of small-format food and grocery stores since before the stores were opened in four cities in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona in October 2008, nearly two years ago. [Read a selection of our stories here. Click the 'newer posts' link at the bottom of the linked page for additional stories.]

Act 2: The beginning of the end

On December 21, 2009, we reported in this piece - Wither Walmart's Small-Format 'marketside' Stores and Format? - that Walmart Stores, Inc. had eliminated its Web Site for the four then 'marketside' (now named 'marketside by Walmart') small-format grocery and fresh foods markets and replaced it with a single Web Page introducing the company's new line of 'marketside' store brand food products, which are named after the fresh foods-focused format stores in Arizona.

As you can see in the piece linked above, we further suggested in the story that 'marketside by Walmart's' days were numbered.

Act 3: The curtain is closing

On January 9, we followed up our December 21, 2009 piece with a story titled: Walmart's 'marketside': What's 'In-Store' for 2010? At the end of the piece we offered three predictions about the 'marketside by Walmart' format and stores and its 'Marketside' brand, which Walmart is using on packaged fresh-prepared foods, pre-packaged fresh produce, fresh salsas, packaged breads and baked goods, along with using to brand some of its supercenter deli departments.

Below (in italics) is the prediction we made in the story regarding the 'marketside by Walmart' format and stores. It just happens to be prediction number one:

Walmart will keep the four Arizona 'marketside by Walmart' stores open in 2010. It will do so in part to serve the research and development function we mention above. Walmart won't open any new small-format 'marketside by Walmart' stores in 2010 though, either in Arizona or elsewhere in the U.S.

So far - nine months into 2010 - our prediction is correct. Walmart hasn't opened any additional 'marketside by walmart' stores this year, nor has it closed the four Metro Phoenix, Arizona stores...yet.

Act 4: Enter the replacement format

In early July of this year, we published this story - July 6, 2010: Walmart Looking for Store Sites in Northern California For 20,000 Sq-Ft Neighborhood Market by Walmart Prototype Store - in which we not only broke the news Walmart Stores, Inc. is looking for sights in Northern California for the 20,000 or so square-foot 'Neighborhood Market by Walmart' format and grocery store its been experimenting with in Rogers, Arkansas, but also said, based on information we obtained, that Walmart would eventually be closing the four Arizona 'marketside by Walmart' stores, shelving the format, and replacing it (the format not that actual four stores) with a final version of the 'Neighborhood Market by Walmart' prototype store.

Here's what we said (in italics) in the July 6 story:

Walmart Stores, Inc. currently has no plans to open any additional Marketside by Walmart stores - anywhere - including in Northern California. In fact, the retailer still holds leases on two sites in Southern California, one in San Diego and another in nearby Oceanside, but has no plans to open them as Marketside by Walmart stores. Construction at both locations, vacant retail buildings, has never been started, nor are there any plans to do so in the near future.

It's our analysis that Walmart is likely to replace the Marketside by Walmart format with some final version of the 20,000 square-foot Neighborhood Market by Walmart prototype, in terms of not opening any additional Marketside stores, and eventually close the four stores in Arizona, or replace one or more with the 20,000 square-foot prototype. It's important to note that the 20,000 square-foot prototype store in Rogers, Arkansas remains a work in progress in terms of not being cast in stone as the final format product, just like the name Neighborhood Market by Walmart might not end up being what it's called.

Act 5: The End is Near

Walmart's small-format 'marketside by walmart' has gone from withering in December 2008, to beginning to die on the vine in early January 2010, to starting to show signs of rot a little over two months ago, in July 2010, according to our chronology of reporting.

And now, the end is coming very soon for the four 'marketside by walmart' stores and the format.

Based on information we've obtained, Walmart Stores, Inc. plans to announce the closing of the four Metro Phoenix 'marketside by Walmart' stores - which are located in the cities of Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe - before the end of December 2010, and no later than in the first quarter of 2011.

Yes, Walmart's small-format, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-like, fresh food and grocery-focused small-format experiment will soon come to an end.

Currently, based on our information (and as we said in our July 2010 story), the format replacement for 'marketside by walmart' is the 20,000 or so square-foot 'Neighborhood Market by Walmart' prototype store in Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart continues to tweak the format, by the way.

Additionally, Walmart will continue to remodel and build its larger (average 40,000 square-foot) Neighborhood Market supermarkets, a few of which have had name changes to 'Neighborhood Market by Walmart' on a selective basis thus far.

So there you have it. Walmart's four 'marketside by Walmart' stores, which all opened on October 4, 2008, will soon be history, along with the format. The history of Walmart's 'marketside by Walmart' in five acts, as reported on and analyzed by Fresh & Easy Buzz.

But, like the story of the mythical 'Phoenix' (appropriate since the four 'marketside by Walmart' stores happen to be in Metro Phoenix, Arizona) rising out of the ashes, not only has a brand name - 'marketside' - for fresh-prepared foods, pre-packaged produce, fresh salsas, and fresh-baked breads, rolls and a cookie, along with a brand name for store deli/prepared foods departments - been born out of the small-format stores, but so too has a new format - the 20,000 or so square-foot 'Neighborhood Market by Walmart' prototype, which is rising out of what will soon be the ashes of the 'marketside by Walmart' format and stores.

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

Fresh, Prepared Foods Merchandising

Walmart Stores, Inc. has added two additional SKUs to its Marketside ready-to-heat, fresh prepared entree line, which Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report on that we're aware of.

The two additional fresh, prepared entree SKUs, sold in 3 pound family-style size packages, are: Lasagna With Meat Sauce (pictured at the top) and Chicken Enchiladas (pictured below). (We recall a similar Chicken Enchiladas entree - but not in the same packaging or same quality product - packed under the Sam's Club store brand, in the past.)
That makes four SKUs in the Marketside fresh, prepared entree line we've been able to document thus far: Mac N' Cheese With Bacon, Rigatoni With Italian Sausage; and now the Chicken Enchilada and Lasagna With Meat Sauce varieties.

Walmart has posted pictures of the two entree varieties on its marketside.com Web site. The two Marketside entree items we reported on in February (Mac N' Cheese With Bacon and Rigatoni With Italian sausage) weren't up on the site at the time. They are now, along with the Chicken Enchilada and Lasagna With Meat Sauce SKUs.

The marketside.com Web site also has some (but not all of the SKUs in the line) of the Marketside bagged and packaged fresh produce items we reported on in the February piece [Walmart Launching New Value-Added Pre-Packaged Fresh Produce Line Under its Marketside Fresh Foods Brand] pictured as well. All of the SKUs are listed in our story.

Further, the Marketside fresh soup line we reported on in this February 28, 2010 piece [Walmart Introducing New Ready-To-Heat Prepared Entrees, Fresh Soups Under its Marketside Brand] and the Marketside fresh salsa line we reported on in this March 2, 2010 post [Walmart Launching New 'Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa' Line Under its Fast-Growing Fresh Foods Store Brand] aren't depicted on marketside.com, perhaps because they're too new

There's also a "Bakery" tab on marketside.com. In case you're wondering when you see it, the tab is for a new line of Marketside fresh breads and baked goods the retailer will be introducing soon. Currently if you click the tab it says "Coming Soon." More to come on that "soon" in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has been out front in reporting and writing about Walmart Stores, Inc.'s development of its new Marketside fresh foods store brand.

For example, see the posts linked below:

>January 9, 2010: Walmart's 'marketside': What's 'In-Store' for 2010?

>December 21, 2009: December 21, 2009 piece - Wither Walmart's Small-Format 'marketside' Stores and Format?

>Click here and here for a selection of additional 'marketside' past posts.

Walmart Launching New 'Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa' Line Under its Fast-Growing Fresh Foods Store Brand

Fresh, Prepared Foods Merchandising

In addition to the new Marketside fresh, ready-to-heat soup, prepared entree and value-added, pre-packaged fresh produce lines we reported on and wrote about in these to pieces on February 28 [Walmart Introducing New Ready-To-Heat Prepared Entrees, Fresh Soups Under its Marketside Brand and Walmart Launching New Value-Added Pre-Packaged Fresh Produce Line Under its Marketside Fresh Foods Brand], Walmart Stores, Inc. is spicing things up by launching a new line of Marketside store brand fresh salsa in seven varieties.

The product is called Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa.

The seven SKU's in the new line are: Mild, Medium and Hot; Chipotle Garlic; Sweet Onion; Mango Peach; and Black Bean & Corn

The salsa comes in 18 oz plastic tubs, as you can see in the photograph at the top. The hot variety is pictured above.

The packaging for the fresh salsa is the same as that of the 10 oz Marketside Mild Pico De Gallo Salsa item in our February 28 report.

Walmart is in the process of rolling out the new Marketside fresh salsa line to selected Supercenters and Neighborhood Market supermarkets in the U.S. We've been told the line also could be sold in Walmart's discount format stores.

The 18 oz Marketside Fresh Garden Salsa line - like its cousin the 10 oz Pico De Gallo, which in the full line comes in medium and hot varieties in addition to the mild - is targeted to be merchandised in the refrigerated sections in the produce departments in Walmart stores. We suspect it might find its way to the self-serve refrigerated deli sections in some stores as well.

The unit price point for the new Marketside 18 oz Fresh Garden Salsa is about $2.99, depending on the region where a store is in the U.S.

Walmart has posted the new Marketside value-added, packaged fresh produce line (plus the Pico De Gallo Salsa) and the Marketside family-sized entrees from our February 28 story on its fairly recently revamped http://www.marketside.com/ Web site.

However, as of today, the new Marketside Garden Fresh Salsa line - or the ready-to-heat soup line we reported on also on February 28 - isn't included or depicted on the marketside.com site.

Walmart Launching New Value-Added Pre-Packaged Fresh Produce Line Under its Marketside Fresh Foods Brand

Fresh Foods Merchandising: Value-Added Produce Category

Walmart Stores, Inc. is introducing an extensive new line of value-added fresh, bagged and pre-packaged produce items under its Marketside fresh foods brand, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

Thus far, the line includes 17 SKUs in the following categories: Fresh, bagged or pre-packaged spinach greens, salad mixes and lettuce, value-added fresh veggies, and a fresh salsa item.

All of the value-added fresh produce items come in either clear bags or plastic packages/tubs. Below are the 17 new Marketside value-added fresh produce items, detailed under the four categories we've created and grouped them under:

Spinach Greens

>Marketside Fresh Spinach, 10 oz
>Marketside Organic Baby Spinach, 10 oz
>Marketside Organic Baby Spinach, 5 oz

Microwave In-Bag Value-Added Veggies

>Marketside Broccoli Cauliflower, 12 oz
>Marketside Broccoli Florets, 12 oz
>Marketside Broccoli/Cauliflower/Carrots Vegetable Medley, 12 oz
>Marketside Snow Peas, 8 oz
>Marketside Sugar Snap Peas, 8 oz

Salad Mix, Salads & Lettuce

>Marketside Classic Iceberg Salad, 12 oz
>Marketside Classic Iceberg Salad, 24 oz
>Marketside Classic Iceberg Salad, 6 oz

>Marketside Shredded Iceberg Lettuce, 8 oz

>Marketside Broccoli Slaw, 12 oz

>Marketside Organic Herb Mix, 5 oz

>Marketside Organic Spring Mix, 10 oz
>Marketside Organic Spring Mix, 5 oz

Fresh Salsa Mix

>Marketside Mild Pico De Gallo, 10 oz

Five of the 17 bagged and pre-packaged fresh produce items are organic, as you can see in the above list.

Walmart is launching its new Marketside value-added, bagged and packaged fresh produce items in selected Supercenters and Neighborhood Market supermarkets.
Some of the 17 items have been sold at Walmart's four small-format 'marketside by Walmart' fresh food and grocery stores in Metropolitan Phoenix. Those stores opened in May 2008.

Earlier today we reported on and detailed that Walmart is introducing a new line of pre-packaged, ready-to-heat fresh, prepared entrees and soups under its Marketside store brand. [February 28, 2010 Walmart Introducing New Ready-To-Heat Prepared Entrees, Fresh Soups Under its Marketside Brand] The two new lines follow Walmart's introduction last year of its Marketside take-and-bake pizza line.

The extension of store brand Marketside to the new pre-packaged, value-added fresh produce line shows Walmart plans to use Marketside as a complete fresh foods store brand, including fresh produce - and other types of fresh foods - under the brand, along with the fresh, prepared foods line.

Interestingly, the new Marketside value-added fresh produce line includes not only the upscale, specialty items like the fancy and organic greens, but also more basic items like the iceberg lettuce and fresh vegetables.

For those who haven't thought Walmart isn't planning to exploit "Fresh," this new development, along with the Marketside fresh, prepared foods line extension, should offer a change of mind.

Additionally, Walmart will be rolling out additional fresh foods items under its Marketside store brand. Stay tuned.

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

Fresh, Prepared Foods Merchandising

Walmart Stores, Inc. is adding additional fresh, prepared foods items to its Marketside fresh foods store brand, as we predicted it would in this January 9, 2010 piece: Walmart's 'marketside': What's 'In-Store' for 2010?

First, Walmart is introducing a new line of Marketside family-size, ready-to-heat prepared entrees. Fresh & Easy Buzz has located two items/SKUs in the new prepared entree line thus far: Marketside Macaroni & Cheese With Bacon, in a 3 pound package, and Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, in a 46 ounce package. (The Rigatoni With Sausage entree is pictured above; the Mac and Cheese With Bacon is at the top.)

Additionally, Walmart has introduced a new line of ready-to-heat, refrigerated fresh soups (pictured above) under its Marketside brand.

The Marketside entrees and soups are similar to those marketed by Safeway (Signature Cafe store brand), Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market (fresh & easy brand) and a number of other U.S. food retailers. But the expansion by Walmart is significant from a competitive standpoint because the mega-retailer has thousands of U.S. stores in which it can sell the growing marketside fresh, prepared foods line

Walmart is in the process of launching the new Marketside fresh, prepared entree line and the fresh soup line in selected Supercenters and Neighborhood Market Supermarkets.

There will be additional items/varieties in the prepared entree line coming out soon, according to our sources and research.

The Marketside entrees and soups were originally created for Walmart's four small-format 'marketside by Walmart' fresh food and grocery stores located in the Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona region, where the ready-to-heat fresh foods have been sold since the four stores opened in May 2008.

As we've reported and written about extensively, Walmart is using the 'marketside' stores as a laboratory for the development of its brand Marketside fresh foods program.

Walmart introduced its first Marketside branded fresh, prepared food item, a line of take-and-bake pizzas, to selected Supercenters and Neighborhood Market supermarkets last year. The pizzas were also developed at and are sold at the four Phoenix Metro region 'marketside by Walmart' stores.

Fresh & Easy Buzz reported in this December 21, 2009 piece - Wither Walmart's Small-Format 'marketside' Stores and Format? - that Walmart had replaced the Web site for its small-format 'marketside by Walmart' fresh food and grocery stores with a single page describing its new Marketside line of fresh foods.

We said this development signaled that Walmart was putting its primary emphasis regarding brand Marketside on the new fresh foods line rather than on additional 'marketside by Walmart' stores., which remains the case.

In our January 9, 2010 piece [Walmart's 'marketside': What's 'In-Store' for 2010?] we made three predictions about Walmart's brand Marketside for 2010.

One of those predictions was that Walmart would soon be rolling out additional fresh, prepared foods items under its Marketside store brand.

Here's what we said (in italics below) in prediction two of the three:

"Walmart will introduce a few additional packaged fresh, prepared foods items (SKUs) under its 'marketside' brand in some of its Supercenters, discount format stores and Neighborhood Market supermarkets in 2010, following up on the 'marketside' prepared, take-and-bake pizza.

Look for some or all of these prepared foods items in 2010: 'marketside' ready-to-heat fresh soups in containers and ready-to-eat packaged salads. Plus 'marketside' ready-to-heat prepared entrees in varieties like macaroni & cheese, meatloaf and pot roast, for starters."

Walmart is doing just what we predicted it would.

Walmart will be launching additional fresh, prepared - and other fresh foods - under its Marketside store brand this year.

Stay tuned.

[Click here and here for a selection of past posts in Fresh & Easy Buzz about Walmart's 'marketside' retail format and stores.]

[Editor's Note: In the past, Walmart used all lower-case letters for 'marketside.' It still uses lower-case for its 'marketside by Walmart' stores. However, Walmart is using Marketside (with a capital M) for its Marketside store brand. Therefore, we will follow this convention.]

Walmart's 'marketside': What's 'In-Store' for 2010?

Analysis & Commentary

In December 2009 we published this piece [December 21, 2009: Wither Walmart's Small-Format 'marketside' Stores and Format?] in which we reported that the Web Site for Walmart Stores' 'marketside by Walmart' fresh food and grocery stores had been replaced by a single page site touting its new line of 'marketside' fresh, prepared foods, and examined the potential future of the four small-format stores, located in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.

Our story has generated a considerable amount of interest in the food retailing industry and media, including being picked up by the convenience store industry trade publication CSP Reports on December 30, 2009 here and by CBS's BNET business news Web site on January 8, 2010 here.

Brand 'marketside' & synergy

In October 2008 we published this analysis and think piece [October 6, 2008: 'The Promotional Pundit:' How Wal-Mart Can Use its Supercenters to Create Customers For its New Small-Format Marketside Stores in Arizona] in which we suggested ways in which Walmart could use its retail power in the Arizona market to create a synergistic relationship for its start up 'marketside by Walmart' stores (then called just 'marketside'), as well as for all of its food and grocery retail formats and banners, particularly its flagship Supercenters and Neighborhood Market supermarkets.

Walmart operates Supercenters, club stores and its Neighborhood Market supermarkets in Arizona, along with the four 'marketside by Walmart' small-format food stores. Walmart is the food and grocery sales market share leader in Arizona., followed by Kroger's Fry's and Safeway Stores, Inc.

One thing we suggested in the October 2008 piece was that Walmart could open branded 'marketside' kiosks in its Supercenters. We also suggested various other things Walmart could do in this regard - the focal point being all about how the retailer could expand and extend 'brand marketside.'

Walmart in fact has recently started doing just that - extending its 'marketside' brand via a new line of store brand fresh, prepared foods products and branding 'marketside outside of the four walls of the small-format Arizona stores.

New 'marketside' fresh-prepared foods line

Recently Walmart began testing the sale of a new store/private label brand of fresh foods labeled 'marketside' in some of its Supercenters, discount format stores and Neighborhood Markets.

The first of the 'marketside' store brand fresh foods products are a line of prepared pizzas in varieties such as Three-Cheese, Pepperoni and Canadian Bacon. The retailer recently has been advertising the 'marketside' pizzas in its ad circulars and promoting them with price discounts in-store. Walmart handed out free samples of the 'marketside' pizza in many of its Supercenter and discount format stores during a special three day Thanksgiving holiday promotion in November.

Announcing the planned line of 'marketside' store brand fresh foods products in July 2009, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Wyatt-Moore said in a statement: "We are testing a number of concepts on home meal replacements and chilled entrees under the 'marketside' brand in select Walmart stores."

Brand 'marketside' & Walmart's Neighborhood Markets

Walmart also started another 'marketside' branding experiment in late summer of 2009. It has rebranded the deli departments (including naming them 'marketside delis') in a handful of its Neighborhood Market supermarkets in Texas and Arizona as "marketside delis," also branding most of the bulk and packaged deli items and fresh, prepared foods under the 'marketside' brand, as it does in its four 'marketside by Walmart' food and grocery stores in Arizona.

Conceptually these two 'marketside' branding efforts outside of the four walls of the 'marketside by Walmart' stores reminds us much of what we suggested the retailer do vis-vis 'marketside' in that October 2008 piece: 'The Promotional Pundit:' How Wal-Mart Can Use its Supercenters to Create Customers For its New Small-Format Marketside Stores in Arizona. In fact, Walmart is sort of turning our concept on its head a bit.

Brand extension & synergy

The expansion of the 'marketside' brand into the test of a private label/store brand fresh foods line and 'marketside' branded deli departments also fits in with the analysis we offered in this October 5, 2008 piece [Wal-Mart's Marketside is More Than the Sum of the Parts of its Other Formats; While Time and Consumers Will Judge, We See the Format As A Stategic Fit] where we laid out the potential synergistic elements of brand 'marketside' and the 'marketside' retail format; brand extentions which Walmart wasn't attempting to develop at the time and only began doing in the late summer of 2009.

What do we make of these developments by Walmart?

First, Walmart's recent developments with brand 'marketside' conceptually follow our analysis well over a year ago about the synergistic potential of brand 'marketside,' or at least the idea that attempting to brand 'marketside' beyond the four walls of the four Arizona 'marketside' food-grocery stores is something the chain should and needs to do.

Second, we think the broader branding of 'marketside' could serve a two-fold purpose for Walmart: It could help the existing 'marketside by Walmart' food stores and any future units Walmart might open because by expanding the brand into store brand fresh food products and 'marketside' in-store deli departments in its Neighborhood Market supermarkets and its Supercenters, more consumer awareness and top of mind vis-a-vis 'marketside' will be created. That's what branding and brand extension is all about.

Lastly, Walmart needs a better position in the fresh, prepared foods space in all of its key formats - Supercenters, Neighborhood Market, discount stores and Sam's club stores. The existing four Arizona 'marketside' fresh foods stores have and could continue to serve as an idea, concept and product development incubator for the giant retailer. Think synergy again. In other words, a secondary function of the 'marketside by Walmart' food stores in Arizona is to serve as the research and development lab for Walmart's overall fresh, prepared foods program.

Three predictions for 'marketside' (brand and stores) for 2010

1. Walmart will keep the four Arizona 'marketside by Walmart' stores open in 2010. It will do so in part to serve the research and development function we mention above. Walmart won't open any new small-format 'marketside by Walmart' stores in 2010 though, either in Arizona or elsewhere in the U.S.

2. Walmart will introduce a few additional packaged fresh, prepared foods items (SKUs) under its 'marketside' brand in some of its Supercenters, discount format stores and Neighborhood Market supermarkets in 2010, following up on the 'marketside' prepared, take-and-bake pizza.

Look for some or all of these prepared foods items in 2010: 'marketside' ready-to-heat fresh soups in containers and ready-to-eat packaged salads. Plus 'marketside' ready-to-heat prepared entrees in varieties like macaroni & cheese, meatloaf and pot roast, for starters.

3. Walmart will brand the deli departments in a few (or perhaps more than a few) additional Neighborhood Market supermarkets into 'marketside delis.' Perhaps in some Supercenters as well.

Since the primary focus of the small-format (about 16,000 square feet) 'marketside by Walmart' stores is fresh foods, and particularly fresh, prepared foods, Walmart's thinking we believe is that although its Neighborhood Market store delis are much smaller than 16,000 square feet, they can still be 'mini marketside' fresh, prepared foods stores (the deli departments) within the Neighborhood Market supermarkets, which average about 43,000 square feet.

[Click here and here for a selection of past posts in Fresh & Easy Buzz about Walmart's 'marketside' retail format and stores.]

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