Holiday Helpers
Walgreens new Nice! economy brand helps shoppers throw affordable parties with products like this table cover and designer paper plates.
The holidays are almost here! Plastic, paper and foil store brands get shoppers ready to party, and to save big.
While the shaky economy would have you think that shoppers might be cutting back on parties this holiday season, it seems Americans still plan to celebrate the season this year. Interclick’s latest audience insight survey shows that median spending for holiday parties will be $350 per party, with overall spending potentially topping $3 billion this year. The study, in partnership with KN Dimestore, surveyed 1,118 respondents in August about their fall and winter party planning. The majority of consumers throwing holiday parties this year will spend either the same or more for upcoming bashes, with the most hosts electing to spend the same or more to celebrate the coming of 2012.
Many consumers will shop and prepare for their fetes online, and although 45% will increase spending, party planners are looking for value and one in four will browse the web for online coupons and deals. Retailers have the chance this holiday season to help shoppers keep their holiday party plans within budget and gain more market share by offering affordable store brands for partying, clean up and food storage.
Private label disposable plates/bowls, which come in paper or plastic, are up 1% to over 481 million with a 36% share in the category, for the latest 52 Weeks Ending Sept 4, 2011, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, IL, according to data from Supermarkets, Drugstores, and Mass Merchandise Outlets (excluding Walmart). Store brand products needed to wrap up the party are up even more with private label garbage/trash/ lawn&leaf bags and sandwich/freezer/ food storage bags both up 3%, the former carrying an 18% share (to over $405 million) and the latter with a 28% share (to over $332 million).
Walgreens, Deerfield, IL, is one retailer promoting its store brands through coupons. In a September circular, shoppers were able to clip a coupon to snag 45 square feet of W brand aluminum foil for $2.19 or Ultra Tuf store brand trash bags for $2.99. W brand freezer and sandwich bags were both advertised on sale for 2/$2. In-store under the “W” brand shoppers will also find plates, plastic cups, and paper napkins–important tools for throwing soirées with easy clean-up. Aluminum foil in one store used a yellow “compare & save” shelf tag to let shoppers know they can save 20-cents with the store brand compared to Reynolds wrap.
Of course, this season shoppers will be seeing something new in Walgreens when walking down the disposables aisle. Walgreens recently unveiled its new economy store brand Nice! in stores across the country. The new brand is set to include more than 400 high quality grocery and household products at prices up to 30 percent below other national brands. Walgreens plans to have most Nice! product on its shelves by early 2012 and the company will continue adding products to the Nice! brand throughout the next few years. Current store brands including Café W, Deerfield Farms, W and others will be phased out and transitioned to the new line. The change is Walgreens latest move in its strategy to build its private brand business, including consolidation of many of the brands in its existing portfolio.
“Store brands have always been a core part of our business. With more shoppers seeking value in this economy, we’ve been able to attract new customers across every income level to our brands and maintain their loyalty with a focus on quality and assortment,” said Joe Magnacca in a press release, Walgreens president of daily living products and solutions. “Now with the launch of Nice!, we are streamlining our offering to make it even easier for customers to identify high quality everyday essentials at a great value.”
Rite Aid offers foil under its Home brand and Rite Aid brand. Left: Rite Aid trash bags can be found under the store’s Home brand or the less expensive Simplify brand.
On a recent visit to one Walgreens, Private Label found a Nice! durable plastic table cover, banquet size, for $2.49 and a 24-pack of Nice! Designer Paper Plates for $2.99. Nice! products feature a clean design aimed at being easily recognizable. Both products carry the same images of household products across the top with their own product highlighted in color and the rest in grey. On the table cloth for example, an illustration of a table is green to match the only other color in the otherwise black, grey, and white text. Each one carries a phrase about the item; the plates explain they are “[sturdy & durable]” while smaller text below points to their qualities of being grease resistant and microwave safe.
Delhaize America, Salisbury, NC, also launched a new value line this year. The My Essentials line offers plain white packaging on over 500 staple items. One Sweetbay store advertised its My Essentials trash bags with tie flaps online for $1.79 for ten garbage bags or 15 tall kitchen bags, while plastic wrap and foil were only displayed online under the upper tier Home 360 store brand.
At Target, Minneapolis, MN, shoppers will find foil comes in the store’s affordable Up & Up store brand in 25 or 75 square feet, as well as in a heavy-duty option of 50 feet. Shoppers looking to save by buying bulk get the choice with the mega pack, related in an orange call out on the package, for $6.49. The package of this foil contains 200 feet, which compares to Reynolds wrap at the same size for two dollars more. Target also offers sandwich bags with a double zipper in the Up & Up brand to compare to Ziploc. The 250-count box offers 25 more bags than Ziploc’s mega pack and costs $4.99 compared to $5.79.
Target also offers store brand tall kitchen bags flex fit with drawstring or with odor control, regular tall kitchen bags, and large trash bags all in money-saving mega packs.
Rite Aid, Harrisburg, PA, offers two choices in its trash bags, its Home for household goods brand and its Simplify price-fighter brand. Rite Aid Home trash bags are priced $6.49 for 20, while 15 national brand Glad bags cost $6.79. Simplify twist tie tall kitchen bags save even more. They retail for $3.59, but were recently on sale for $3.23 for 15, while Glad tall kitchen bags are $6.79 for a 22-count box. Simplify tall kitchen bags are offered in 60-bag packs for even more savings, but Rite Aid also offers Home brand Xtreame Flex drawstring tall kitchen bags as well.
When it comes to foil, in the store Private Label visited, this reporter found Home brand aluminum foil on sale with a shelf tag advertising 75 square feet at 2/$5. The foil package is white and features a photo of fish baking on foil. The package says it offers end-roll locks. Rite Aid brand foil, 25 square feet for $1.79, was shelved above it and comes in a shiny blue package and says it features stay closed tabs and end roll locks. Both offer great savings, with 55 square feet of Reynolds foil priced at $5.29 in the store.
Wrap it Up
Many parties end with leftovers, no matter how good the food is. Dollar Tree, Chesapeake, and The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., Montvale, NJ, offer some good ways to save leftovers for the rest of the week.
Dollar Tree’s Store-it line offers an interesting product to easily wrap up food in their containers. Store-it Cover-Ups come in a variety pack of 20 covers in small, medium, and large sizes and snap over bowls, plates and pans to keep foods protected in the refrigerator or microwave. The Cover-Up eliminates the need to size out normal plastic wrap. The Store-it brand also offers Always Fresh bags for produce to keep it fresh longer and the sandwich bags carry a “new and improved wide seal” call out on the box.
At A&P’s Pathmark, the retailer offers its America’s Choice sub-brand Keepers for food containers. The containers are BPA free, microwave and dishwasher safe, and safe for freezer storage. The containers come in many options including a 4-cup, 2-quart, 2.2-quart, 3.6-quart, and 4.8-quart food saver. There is also a 1-quart divided rectangle, a 3-section plate, 2.8-quart square, 3.5-quart lettuce saver, and 2-quart bottles. The large variety was shelved in one Pathmark above national brand Rubbermaid, although the Keepers themselves do not make a comparison.
