GREAT VALUE PROJECT

Walmarts Great Value Brand: Analysis, Interpretation, and Brand Re-launch. Cody D. Cooper University of Central Oklahoma Markets and Stakeholders 15267

GREAT VALUE PROJECT Great Value is Walmarts private label brand. Great Value targets price conscious shoppers on a budget. Great Value is bulk processed food, and distributed through Walmarts stores all across the globe. Practically the same product as name brands, Great Value offers a

similar product that is greatly cheaper in price without sacrificing quality. Great Values current offerings are wide. The brand is positioned to compete directly with many name brands. Although Great Value appears to be doing all the right things, it falls short to many. Competition of house brands is high and to be competitive, Walmart needs to consider where this market is trending. Great Value offers a unique opportunity to reach customers in the Walmart global marketplace. With marketing changes and branding re-design, Great Value will be well positioned to compete with its competitors. Walmart launched Great Value in 1993 as their house brand. Many retailers use private label brands because the cost to acquire and market the goods is low. Retailers can give ample space to their brands and can price them much lower than that of their name brand competitors. Great Value offers a wide selection. The brand offers everything from, milk and eggs, yogurt, cookies, bottled water, cereals, frozen foods and home products. According to Neff, Great Value is Americas largest packaged food brand with sales estimated around $10 billion dollars. According to a Consumer Report study in 2009, more often than not, private label foods are not only cheaper but taste better than their name brand competitor. Despite the positives inherent with Great Value, Walmart hasnt seen the change it was hoping for. In 2009, Great Value was re-launched. It featured new logos and simplified packaging. They began to advertise Great Value more aggressively as well as removed name

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brand competitors from their current offerings. According to Nelson (2010), they grossly underestimated the power of a strong brand. Walmart removed 300 brands to draw attention to their Great Value products. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Walmarts sales fell 1.4% (Nelson 2010). The company cites issues such as high gas prices and high unemployment as the source of the loss. However, they are quickly returning the removed brands to the shelves. Walmarts target market is also an inherent image problem associated with Great Value. When we think of Walmart, we conjure images of blue smocked workers, a warehouse atmosphere and more quantity over quality. The social stain that Walmart bears is a hurdle for Walmart and Great Value. Being the king of discount shopping, Walmart must be able to relay to costumers that Great Value is affordable, a high quality product, and isnt considered lower end. Customers should feel special when purchasing Great Value products. As a private label, Great Value is not only competing with name brands, it is also competing with other private labels that their competition offers. Given that there are Walmarts all over the globe, they are in direct competition with national and local chain grocers. Since many private labels utilize similar suppliers, Great Value needs to set itself apart not only in price but quality, and brand awareness. Many competitors products offer updated packaging, similar prices, and target a wide section of consumers. Targets Market Pantry, and its organic equivalent, Archer Farms, are in direct competition with Great Value. See exhibit 1A. Targets Archer Farms brand gives the consumer the impression that they are purchasing a high quality specialty food. One may not even

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associate the brand as a private label at all. It targets consumers who are young, have extra spending money and are looking for value. The packaging is subdued in its colors. It portrays a classic feel. It has no feeling of lower end discount food whatsoever. Targets other private label is Market Pantry, see exhibit 2A. Market Pantry is the direct competitor for the Great Value brand. Market Pantry features current colors that are simple but catch the eye. The font and logo also give the appearance of being current. Also, the name Market Pantry bears no mental or social association with being a lower end product. Again what Target has done is take their private label foods and elevated them equally with name brands. Their slogans, Tasty, Food, Tasty Price, and Just as Nice, At a Lower Price Convey to the consumer exactly what they intend to. That their private label tastes as good, looks as good or better, and is a great price.

Exhibit 1A

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Exhibit 1B With the advent of Walmart Neighborhood Markets. Great Value is now in competition with local and regional grocery stores. One example is Kroger. According to Kroger.com, as of 2011, Kroger had 2,345 stores in 31 states. Krogers market presence validates that its private label Kroger is a competitor for Great Value. In comparison to Great Value, Kroger offers a wide selection of everyday foods as well. Their packaging is simple, current, and like Targets private labels, doesnt convey the low end perception that Great Value does. Their slogan Kroger Products, here to help you with what really matters, conveys to the consumer that its products are everyday items. Kroger products are simple and necessary items. Kroger also offers another private label food brand called Private Selection. See exhibit 1D.

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Exhibit 1C

Exhibit 1D

GREAT VALUE PROJECT As with Kroger Products, Private Selections design and packaging are simple and refined. The font is classic. The color which is primarily black, associates the brand with exclusivity. Private Selection conveys to the consumer that it is a higher end product with reasonable prices.

In comparison to the mentioned brands, Great Value offers exactly what the name entails, great food for a great price. It is simple and to the point. Where Great Value fails is in its overall design. See Exhibit 1E

Exhibit 1E The logo and font are bulky and oversized. To the consumer, this styling conveys more that it is a Great Value product than what it actually is. Walmart re-launched Great Value in 2010. According to Andrea Thomas, the re-design had two objectives. The first was to take Great Value

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and make it one brand. According to Thomas, Great Value was more than anything a collection of items (Neff 2010). The second objective was to upgrade Great Values image. We needed it to look like we cared about the product said Thomas. The result was a simplified logo and packaging. It accomplished these goals, but looking at competitors, Great Value lacks overall design quality. This does nothing for the image they are trying to upgrade. To be competitive Great Value will need to change. Font, colors, and package design will need to be taken to a higher level. Exhibit 1F shows ads with the new logo as well as a rendering of new package designs for the re-launch. The name Great Value doesnt convey to the consumer anything other than it is cheap in price. Changing to the name GV Market, conveys to the consumer that this brand is new, classic, and although low in price, not low in style. Simply adding the word market, denotes something more specialized than an everyday food. Using the GV instead of Great Value also elevates the brand name from lower end. Overall, GV Market creates a higher end brand experience at a lower cost. Great Values slogan is also an area that needs improvement. On every box of Great Value, there is a phrase that relates to the particular product. For yogurt it reads creamy, rich, guaranteed. Similarly, a cylinder of bread crumbs reads Crunchy, crumbly, guaranteed. The unique label for each item is a unique addition and sets it apart from other brands. Tailoring each package specifically to the food does convey that Great Value cares about the quality of their product. But, there is no blanket logo for the brand itself. For the re-launch, the slogan will be A great value, everyday, for everyone. This new slogan conveys that this product isnt for one economic subset or the other. It conveys the emotion that this brand is all inclusive.

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Exhibit 1F

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The Great Value brand offers a unique opportunity. Rebranding it to GV Market, and making the additional changes to the package design will help to grow the target customer base. Being that they are sold globally at Walmart stores, GV Market is capable of becoming a strong brand, one that has high customer awareness, a wide demographic audience and appreciation. The new products will give consumers a sense of pride that they are getting a high quality product that is affordable and doesnt look low end.

GREAT VALUE PROJECT SOURCES

It pays to buy store brands. (2009). Consumer Reports, 74(10), 16-21 Kroger inc. (2011). Kroger 2011 fact book. Retrieved November 22, 2012 from https://kroger.com/corporate Neff, J. (2009). Why Walmart's Great Value changes the game. Advertising Age, 80(29), 12. Nelson, J. (2010). BRAND BACKFIRE. Canadian Business, 83(10), 23 Our story (2012). Retrieved November 22, 2012 from http://walmart.corporate.com Store-brand taste-off. (2012). Consumer Reports, 77(10), 16-20.