What brand doesn't want to look environmentally conscious and earth-friendly? And we're not just talking about the predicted rise in plug-in hybrid cars for Ford and Toyota or the recent increase in vegetarian and vegan businesses. Now mass-market pharmacy Walgreens is getting into the act.

The drug store chain this week launched its own Ology brand that features 25 environmentally friendly products, such as “tissues, toilet paper and paper towels made from bamboo and cane sugar husks instead of tree pulp” as well as “laundry detergent with fewer chemicals than regular brands, shampoos and conditioners for both children and adults, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and glass and all-purpose household cleaners,” according to Crain's Chicago Business.

"There's a growing trend of moms and households looking for safer products with fewer chemicals," Maurice Alkemade, Walgreen's VP of retail brands and global sourcing, told Crain's. "A lot of national brands are pushing to take out these chemicals, but we're the first affordable and widely available line to do it. We believe we can lead and own this platform."Continue reading...

Makers of name brand products beware: Store brands continue to be accepted and embraced by consumers.

Last July, we reported on a study by Accenture indicating that 64 percent of shoppers' grocery carts were at least half full of store brand products -- and 39 percent said they had bought more store brands in recent years.

Now a new study by marketing agency The Integer Group, in association with the market research firm M/A/R/C Research, shows that consumers increasingly believe store brands can match brand names in quality. In fact, in the 2012 study, 64 percent of shoppers said brand names are not better quality products, versus 57 percent in 2010. Only 51 percent of shoppers say they continue to buy brand name products over store-brand alternatives because they trust the brand name, according to the study. Only 20 percent of shoppers agree that they go right for their brand name choice and get what they want.

Just as important, there seems to be a broad change in the perception of store brand or private label products. As store brands have grown in popularity, groceries and retail chains have created their own branded lines. Target, for example, sells its own Archer Farms brand, and Whole Foods pitches its 365 Everyday Value line.

In recent years, such retailers have paid more attention to packaging so their products can be competitive on store shelves. It must be paying off. Only a year ago, 68 percent of shoppers agreed that brand name packaging was more attractive than store brand packaging, according to the study. This year, the percentage dropped to just over half — 52 percent of shoppers.Continue reading...

Private label products, also known as store brands, have never enjoyed so much popularity. Years ago, generic products were seen as inferior and dull, but today, economic conditions and a distinct improvement in product quality have given private labels a new desirability.

In the U.S., store brands are thriving. A recent study of 500 U.S. consumers conducted by the management consulting company Accenture shows that 64 percent of shoppers' grocery carts were at least half full of store brands — and 39 percent said they've bought more store brands in recent years.

That trend is not limited to the United States. A new report from IBISWorld, Australia's largest provider of industry-based research, notes that private labels will account for over 30 percent of supermarket sales in Australia by 2017-18.Continue reading...

What started as a recession-beating tactic seems to have become ingrained in shoppers in the United States. They just can't get enough of store brands, aka generics or private label products.

A new study of 500 U.S. consumers conducted by the management consulting company Accenture shows that 64 percent of shoppers' grocery carts were at least half full of store brand products — and 39 percent said they've bought more store brands in recent years. This is in line with an April 2012 study conducted by Perception Research Services indicating that 38 percent of U.S. shoppers have bought more private label products than they did in 2010, with 86 percent of shoppers saying they purchase at least some store brands on a regular basis.

The rise of store brands has been a phenomenon typically associated with recessionary times, but in recent years, consumers have favored store brands for reasons other than price alone. Two-thirds of shoppers do indeed say they buy store brands because they are cheaper; according to the Accenture study, however, 50 percent of consumers surveyed buy store brand products because they perceive the quality to be just as good as the brand-name equivalent, and 42 percent say they buy private label products because they trust a particular store's brand.

Start throwing around terms like "quality" and "trust" and marketers of brand-name products become very nervous.Continue reading...

Walgreen Co, the largest drugstore company in the U.S., has gone transcontinental with its acquisition of a 45-percent stake in Boots, the U.K.-based drug-store giant, for $6.7 billion.

The two companies also are looking to a full merger in three years for further $9.5 billion, plus the assumption of Boots' then-outstanding debt. Combined they'll have 11,000 stores in 12 countries, prompting Walgreen's press release headline, "Walgreens and Alliance Boots Form Strategic Partnership to Create the First Global Pharmacy-Led, Health and Wellbeing Enterprise."

The deal represents another in a growing string of incursions by relatively healthy American companies into an ailing European economic scene, to the tune of about $43 billion overall so far this year. Alliance Boots Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina, meanwhile, has finally struck the big deal he was seeking in order to "transform" the business and future of becoming a global healthcare leader.Continue reading...

The chips are down for Sears, as they have been so often over the last few decades. Its latest round of closings of its Sears and Kmart stores, announced shortly after Christmas, may be the first ring of a death knell that could attend what used to be America's biggest retailer and the namesake of the building that originally was known as Sears Tower, in Chicago.

But Sears continues to go down fighting. In the past, it continually has attempted to offset its failing relevance as a retailer of soft goods and concentrate on areas and brands where Americans continue to rely on Sears, including Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools.

The latest tactic: taking advantage of Sears' underappreciated but significant role as an outlet for fitness equipment. Few know that the retailer is America's no. 1 seller of fitness equipment, so it's stepping up its attention to the sector through branded content, community and conversation.Continue reading...

We've reported numerous times about the rise of the private label or store brand throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Fueled by economic conditions, store brands have increased in popularity, offering shoppers lower priced alternatives and causing concern for name brand marketers. More and more, private labels are taking on global appeal as stores grab a larger share of shelf space for their own brands.

Now the Land Down Under may become overwhelmed with private labels, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. Already a hotbed of store brands, Australia could well be inundated by its two largest supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, who have both applied for hundreds of trademarks with the country's IP Australia, the government agency administering intellectual property rights.Continue reading...

It used to be that Sears’ in-house brands – Craftsman, Kenmore, and DieHard – could only be found at Sears-owned stores and acted as magnets to consumers, bringing them in so they’d check out other products.

But those days are over. Following in the footsteps of a deal to sell Craftsman at Costco and agreement to DieHard products at Meijer, Sears is reportedly prepping to sell its Kenmore goods elsewhere as well, marking the first time that Kenmore goods would be sold elsewhere in the brand's 98-year history.Continue reading...