Safeway's 2-year-old O Organics line has been so successful, the company has licensed it for sale by other retailers. Supervalu's chief executive, Jeff Noddle, said this month that the Wild Harvest natural/organic line that hit shelves in April has been "our most successful product launch ever."
Wal-Mart, which says sales of some private-label categories are up 40% this year, is rolling out new All Natural ice cream featuring such flavors as blueberry pomegranate.
Kroger has new lines of steaks, bread and pizzas besides more organic items. Within the last five years, the company has nearly doubled to 14,000 the number of store-brand products it offers. It also gives free samples and runs in-store blind taste tests against national brands, and has increased direct mailings to regular customers with coupons and recipe ideas for its brands.
Like other chains, Kroger now uses a tiered approach, offering a sharply discounted Value brand, its namesake store brands and what it calls premium brands such as Private Selection. Kroger says it puts that label only on products that meet or exceed the leading national brand in quality; Private Selection sales are projected to hit $1 billion this year.
Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Research Group, said the big U.S. chains were catching up to the long tradition of strong private-brand grocery programs in other countries, such as those of London-based Tesco and Canada's Loblaw Co. -- Loblaw 30 years ago introduced a brand called simply No Name.
