In the most recent edition of ESM, we spoke to retailers across Europe about their private label strategies, including chatting to Dutch retailer Jumbo about how it is focused on developing products that meet their day-to-day lives.
This article first appeared in ESM Issue 3 2020.
Jumbo is one of the most proactive retailers in the Dutch market when it comes to exploring new ways of driving customer engagement.
The retailer recently teamed up with HEMA on an exclusive partnership deal, continues to incorporate elements of its Jumbo Foodmarkt and La Place operations into its supermarkets, and opened its first stores in Belgium last November.
This focused approach also applies to its private labels, as Jan van de Wiel, international sourcing manager, and Roché Arts, manager, private label procurement, explain.
ESM: What are the consumer trends driving private label growth in your country?
Jan van de Wiel: There is more and more interest from consumers in value for money products, not only because of the presence of discounters in the European market, but more because consumers also want to see themselves as smart buyers. Especially in the coming difficult economic time ahead, value for money products will be more important for consumers.
At the same time, consumers are also looking for premium innovations and indulgence products, and in the past year we introduced several hundred premium products under the La Place brand. Consumers are exploring new flavours, and they expect Jumbo to follow these trends with private label.
In addition, personalisation is a key trend – the number, size and composition of households is changing. At Jumbo, we have adapted to this trend through the introduction of of package contents adapted to smaller households, especially in private label.
Healthy food, including wellness products, gluten-free, organic and vegetarian products, is also a trend, and today we sell around 500 fresh and ambient organic SKUs. We also recently introduced a new range of gluten-free products.
What do you see as the potential challenges, if any, to private label growth?
Roché Arts: The biggest challenge is to differentiate with our products and product quality, in comparison with the competition. We continuously work with our private label partners to develop better quality products and create innovations.
There has been a consolidation of producers in the private label industry, which is affecting private label sales. A retailer can only win when they exceed the expectations of consumers, and this means that we need to offer better quality private label, at a competitive price, and introduce these products in the shortest time possible to the market.
How important is your private label offering to the identity of your retail brand?
Jan van de Wiel: Private Label is very important for the Jumbo brand equity and identity. With our private label, we can really prove to our consumers that we have the best assortment for the best price. Moreover, it is the only marketing tool which is put on the breakfast or dining table of our customers.
The way we look at our private label programme, and the way we develop our products, is all to give our customers, and new customers, a reason to return to our supermarkets. For this reason, we are very active around the world in seeking out products with the highest quality. All our efforts are undertaken to exceed expectations of our customers.
© 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
