Today’s Group has launched two own-label ranges - Today’s Essentials and Today’s Select.

It is the first time in more than 10 years that the wholesale buying group has had its own range. It previously shared Nisa’s Heritage range before the two split at the start of the year.

The ranges will launch on 14 October, initially with a total of 40 lines, but rising to an anticipated 200 lines by the end of next year.

Around 80% of the 200 lines are expected to come under the Select banner, which Today’s said would cover a mid-tier range of popular food and drink lines such as biscuits, canned goods and soft drinks.

Essentials, meanwhile, would be a value range consisting largely of everyday household products such as bleach, washing-up liquid and rubbish bags.

CEO Bill Laird insisted the launch of the ranges did not mean that the buying group, which is known as ‘the home of brands’ because of its strong relationship with suppliers, was turning its back on brands. It had deliberately made the offer smaller than rivals’ because of this relationship, he said.

“These are key lines to avoid the mistake that other wholesalers have made by trying to stock inappropriate variants of own labels that then don’t sell,” Laird said.

“This has resulted in suppliers who are sitting on may tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of own- label dead stock that our competitors can’t sell and suppliers can’t easily dispose of. We don’t see any need or reason to get into the same difficulty.”

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