Private Label Manufacturers Association
Joe Mollica II, CEO, LNK International, Inc., discussed trade relations in a recent PLMA Lunch with Leadership presentation.
Previous Lunch with Leadership guests include Harry Overly, President & CEO of Flagstone Foods; Ann O’Hara, president, Huhtamaki North America; Camilo Romero, CEO, Luker Chocolate; and Lou DeMent, Owner and CEO of Giovanni Food Co.
This is the amount that Aldi says it plans to pass along in savings to shoppers through Labor Day by temporarily lowering everyday low prices on more than 250 items, including seasonal picnic necessities, BBQ essentials, travel-ready snacks and better-for-you foods. Examples include Southern Grove Dried Mediterranean Apricots, $2.99, down from: $3.39; and Southern Grove Dried Cranberries, $1.75, from $1.95.
“With our new program, we aim to introduce more shoppers to our lower-cost store-brand items, which deliver the same quality as national brands.”
- Ira Kress, president of Giant Food, on a new program that lowers prices on hundreds of private label items, including Giant brand, Nature's Promise, Taste of Inspirations, Smart Living, Always My Baby, Companion and CareOne. Additionally, Giant has expanded its Flexible Rewards loyalty program, enabling customers to earn 2x the points for every dollar spent on private brands.
The Bellini cocktail is so popular that it’s become a food and beverage flavor trend.
Southeastern Grocers has just launched SE Grocers-brand Peach Bellini sherbet, which combines peach-flavored sherbet and swirls of champagne-flavored sherbet. Plus, Target sells Good & Gather Peach Bellini-flavored sparkling water.
Misfits Market’s store brand Odds & Ends sustainable “Barely Broken White Jasmine Rice” is made from broken kernels. According to Misfits, there are official limits on how many broken kernels a crop can contain (4%). If a crop exceeds that, it is deemed unsellable by traditional grocery stores and gets marked as animal feed. Misfits partners with U.S. growers to rescue rice that goes over the 4% limit.
Whole Foods sells a variety of store brand foaming hand soaps in unique scents, including Anjou Pear, Satsuma Eucalyptus and Mint Mojito. They are available in 12-ounce pump bottles, as well as 64-ounce refills.
Gardening season is here and retailers are selling supplies, lawn decorations and more. Lidl’s Parkside store brand includes planters, hand rakes, shovels, pruners and plant stakes.
As part of its expansion plans, BJ’s has announced new club openings in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest.
Among the clubs slated to open in 2024: Staten Island, N.Y.; Brooksville, Fla.; and St. Johns, Fla.
BJ's previously announced other club openings, including five across the Southeast and Midwest, that are planned to open this fiscal year:
BJ’s also has announced its first club opening in the state of Kentucky in early 2025.
BJ’s operates 244 clubs and 175 BJ's Gas® locations in 20 states.
“Our real estate pipeline is the strongest it’s been in more than 20 years, and we look forward to helping more families save up to 25% off grocery story prices every day,” Bill Werner, EVP, strategy and development at BJ’s, said in a statement.
Consumers spend an average of $174 per grocery trip, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers by market research company Drive Research. Also, more half of consumers anticipate spending more on groceries in 2024 than 2023 (56%).
Among other results:
Beauty products and cosmetics will be a main attraction at PLMA’s “The Store Brands Phenomenon 2024 – Empowering the Retail Industry” Private Label Trade Show, November 17-19 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Chicago. (Wine & Spirits is another special feature at the show.)
There’s good reason why: Beauty products and cosmetics are showing strong sales growth. In 2023, total dollar sales rose 11% to $3.8 billion and unit sales were up 2% to 956 million, according to Circana. Store brand dollar share rose to 7.6% and unit share moved up to 12.8%.
Some of the biggest gainers last year include eye cosmetics (up 70%; $41 million in sales); lip cosmetics (up 50%; $26 million); facial cosmetics (up 37%; $49 million) and women's fragrances (up 29%; $50 million).
Here’s what Nature’s Own Cosmetics said about the clean beauty trend at PLMA’s 2023 Private Label Trade Show:
The beauty business is so hot that The Private Label Trade Show will feature a Beauty and Cosmetics Pavilion for exhibitors from around the world.
Morrisons is employing thousands of AI-powered cameras across its UK stores by the end of the year, after trials showed they significantly improved availability and increased the efficiency of staff.
Edeka, Germany’s largest grocery retail chain, is deploying AI-powered age-verification technology at one of its micro locations at Stuttgart Airport in Germany. Age verification is needed roughly 22% of the time at stores.
Tesco has announced it is launching the second phase of its Fit for Growth range review, which will use AI-driven technology to develop location-specific ranges for its Express stores.
Aldi puts a voice developed with the help of artificial intelligence at the center of its first campaign with a new advertising agency. The voice in the new advertising campaign was developed by AI based on the voice of Aldi employees.
To keep up with the changes on the EU food market and enable consumers to eat healthy, the European Parliament approved a revision of existing rules on the composition, labelling and production of honey, fruit juices, jams, marmalades and milk.
Under the new rules it will not be enough just to indicate if honey comes from the EU or not. It will be obligatory to list the countries of origin, in descending order, together with what percentage of the product comes from them.
Minimum fruit content in jams will increase, which means there will be less sugar in them. Jams will have to have at least 450 grammes of fruit content per kilogram (before it was 350 grammes), while high quality “extra jams” will have 500 grammes of fruit content per kilogram (before it was 450 grammes). The term marmalade is currently used only for citrus jams, but with the new rules, it will be possible to use it for any fruit jams, in line with local traditions.
The EU will authorise the production of dehydrated milk products with reduced level of lactose. Dehydrated milk covers various types of milk that have reduced water content and may even be in solid form.