In presentations taking place on Sept. 20 during The Private Brand Movement in Chicago, a number of speakers made it clear that U.S. retailers are taking store brands in exciting new directions, pointing to recent product innovations, packaging improvements and more. But retailers still have much work to do, they suggested.

“We need to go from ‘imitate’ to ‘innovate,’” stressed Carol Best, vice president, brand strategy for Anthem Worldwide, the strategic design division of Des Plaines, Ill.-based Schawk.

Alex Petrov, vice president, Consumer Brands for Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, echoed Best’s sentiments.

“We believe retail brand innovation needs to evolve away from followership to realize the full potential,” he said.

And even though the UK boasts a private label penetration approximately twice that of the United States, retailers should not necessarily copy the UK’s approach to store brands, Best said. The two cultures are simply too different in their approach to retail overall.

“The reality is we’re not that similar,” Best said. “Instead, we need to get better at [understanding] why she is purchasing.”

Uncovering that “why” is part of a “consumer-centric” approach that retailers really need to embrace to ensure success going forward, noted Carla Cooper, CEO of Stamford, Conn.-based Daymon Worldwide. That means thinking much like a successful CPG company in terms of both product development and product marketing — and connecting emotionally with consumers.

A consumer-centric approach requires a deep understanding of the customer gleaned through research; thoughtful brand positioning/strategy and brand naming; portfolio strategies; the five Ps of marketing (people, price, product, promotion, and place); and tools to measure success, Cooper said.

“At every point, ask: What connects a product to people?” she advised. “The consumer is the boss, and the brand must be fully focused on the consumer.

Retailers might not have the deep pockets of the big CPG companies, but these consumer-centric efforts don’t have to break the bank, Cooper noted.

“You need to get a little bit more sophisticated and steal some ideas from the CPG companies to take private label penetration [higher],” she said. “If you take just a few learnings from the CPG companies in just a few categories,” she added, it can have a lot of impact.

Although trends also are very important in terms of new store brand product development, Cooper noted that retailers must sort through the sea of trends to determine which ones actually are significant trends for their customers.

“Just because it’s a trend doesn’t mean it’s a trend for your customers,” she said. “Which ones will deliver the most results at the cash register?”

— Kathie Canning, Progressive Grocer's Store Brands