In the most recent edition of ESM, we spoke to retailers across Europe about their private label strategies, including how Spanish retailer Eroski has sought to develop its private label range around health, sustainability and provenance, as consumers seek inspiration from own brands.
This article first appeared in ESM Issue 3 2020.
Spanish retailer Eroski’s Contigo (‘With You’) model has been the driving force for its growth over the past number of years. At the core of this focus on healthier, more sustainable consumption, as well as local products, is its private-label offering.
In the past few months, the retailer has incorporated Nutri-Score labelling into more than 300 own-brand SKUs, eliminated more than 50 tonnes of plastic from its private-label packaging, and earned AENOR animal welfare certification for its dairy products, amongst other initiatives.
ESM chatted to Ainhoa Oyarbide Mendieta, brand marketing director, Eroski about the retailer’s progress in private label development.
ESM: What are the main consumer trends driving private label growth, do you think?
Ainhoa Oyarbide Mendieta: The most relevant consumer trends in the market in which we operate are the development of local and/or regional products, and the development of healthy products or products with health claims. Trends such as vegan are not yet very relevant in our country, although they are being gradually introduced.
Where are the opportunities within private label in Spain, do you think?
The opportunities lie in the evolution of consumers and their habits, as well as in the socio-economic context.
As mentioned, I see an opportunity to develop solutions for the senior segment, incorporating healthy and ergonomically simple solutions, and the children’s segment, in which there is an opportunity to develop the category with a unique, differential strategy, developing innovative, healthy products for this consumer base.
Of course, with all these opportunities, the goal is to achieve continuous improvement in terms of nutritional composition, guiding them towards healthier products while keeping, in all cases, the promise of savings.
Historically, private label has adopted a 'good-better-best' architecture. Do you think that architecture is still valid?
In my opinion, this architecture is obsolete, despite being in force throughout the Spanish retail sector.
Undoubtedly, we must respond to consumers’ needs, with products at different price scales, to offer solutions to different households’ needs. In addition, though, we are guiding all our developments towards new concepts, such as organic, vegan, gourmet and local products, or adapting to audiences with specific needs.
As a brand, our axes of positioning as a brand are leveraged in health, sustainability and local. The development of our private label responds to these parameters and leads us to constant reviews and reformulations, focusing on the nutritional improvement of our private-label products.
With this in mind, we are building and evolving a unique product proposal in the Spanish distribution sector, which also integrates nutritional labelling – Nutri-Score – into our brand. Additionally, we now have a greater density of products and, thus, are offering more solutions to our customers. This includes agricultural products that are grown and produced locally.
What has been the most successful product launch at Eroski in the past year?
Without a doubt, I would highlight the Eroski Natur fresh-produce brand, which is positioned around ‘responsible flavour’ and under which all products marketed – including fruit and vegetables, meat and fish – have sustainability certification seals, which ensure the care for, and protection of, the environment.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
