Spar is embarking on a major own-label drive to net additional sales of £145m within five years.
The retailer has unveiled plans to increase the share of own-label products in its stores from 29% to 40% and identified an “opportunity” to grow incremental sales from £17m now to £162m by 2019.
It said it would look to develop “highly visible” ranges and contemporary products so consumers could “see Spar in a new way”. It would target growth around shopper missions, with a focus on evening meals and food-to-go, such as sandwiches and salads.
As part of a drive to improve quality perceptions, Spar said it had “repositioned” 20 products across its fresh lunchtime offering of wraps and sandwiches, updating the range with new “modern” packaging and flavours.
Following encouraging results in chilled pizza and chilled Italian ready meals, a new range of Indian and Oriental meals would be introduced in September at a two-for-£5 price point designed to communicate Spar’s price credentials, as well as desserts.
“The fundamental thing is that customers like own brand,” said Susan Darbyshire, Spar brand director.
“We’ve recognised that to satisfy what our customers are looking for we need to have a strong range. We have to make sure we’ve absolutely nailed the price and quality.
“The quality is on par with the multiples - we have benchmarked every product in the past 12 months and we’ve got a really rigorous process to ensure the quality is what it needs to be. And we’ve spent a lot of time not just getting the customer to understand the brand, but retailers, too.”
To raise awareness of its own-label ranges, Spar had introduced in store sampling kits to 250 stores, she added.
A new TV advert is also set to air in August.
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