Why Walmart launched a premium grocery brand, with a luxury brand to match

Walmart’s new private brand, Bettergoods, doesn’t look like what you might expect a Walmart private brand to look like. And that’s exactly the point.

The discount retailer is promoting the new brand to shoppers looking for “upscale culinary experiences,” according to the company. With a lively, colorful new brand identity that had the look, messaging and product offerings of premium competitors, the goal, says Walmart Vice President of Creativity and Design David Hartman, was to create a brand that was “as desirable as the leading national brand.” Trademarks.”

Dress for the job you want; The brand of the client you want to acquire.

Packaging can go a long way in influencing consumers’ perception of a product. One 2018 study by Pregis and the University of Wisconsin found that the difference between premium and economy packaging changed the retail prices participants expected to pay for the product by 45%. By intentionally making packaging look cheap, designers can communicate low price. But by designing packaging that looks premium (indicating high quality) and keeping the price low — a trick Target has long used — packaging can convey great value.

So, how exactly does Walmart show that its brand is differentiated? Start with the name. The phrase “better good” inherently elicits comparison, says Hartman, and was meant to “convey the idea that these products taste better, are better quality, and are made with ingredients that are ‘better for you’.”

From a visual standpoint, Bettergoods designs its name as a single word in lower case letters and a custom typeface to look friendly and approachable, Hartman says. Fast company. In contrast to Walmart’s minimally designed Great Value brand, Walmart designed Bettergoods’ packaging in a mix of colors for a more distinct look in keeping with its CPG contemporaries.

Multi-colored packaging also plays a role in its new premium product offerings, which also typically come at a higher price, such as plant-based shredded cheese, organic milk and gluten-free chicken nuggets. Think green-wrapped vegan products and guacamole-flavored tortilla chips, now housed in an attractive blue-and-lime-green colored bag.

These are products you might expect to find in Target’s Good and Gather private brand, or DTC brand with retail partnerships. This is of course intentional. They target younger or more affluent, trend-oriented consumers who are looking for plant-based options and specialty ingredients with convenient packaging.

“We wanted to make it easier for our customers to find better food alternatives,” says Hartman. “The bright and vibrant color palette of the core assortment makes our brand easy to find and is used to express the vibrancy of food and the joy of eating,” he says.

Hartman describes packaging photography as “masterful” and “designed to elevate the product and enhance the quality of our premium ingredients.” He adds that the typography is “designed to indicate the quality of the ingredients and the care we have taken in developing the products.” (JKR’s Lisa Smith cited a similar rationale behind the visual approach of her Burger King team’s 2021 rebranding.) In the shelf era, Walmart is aiming for new shelf appeal that will be familiar to consumers who have purchased more trend-driven DTC products with expressive visual branding .

As for Walmart, Bettergoods private-brand prices remain affordable, with products retailing for less than $15 and most available for less than $5, according to the company. But the line aims to attract and retain consumers who have begun spending more of their dollars at discount retailers as inflation rises.

“Sam Walton said, ‘If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will,’” says Hartman. “Each brand in our portfolio plays an important role in our customers’ lives. We created Bettergoods based on the need we heard from customers for a well-designed, on-trend and affordable food offering that underscores their love of food.

Shoppers who earned more than $100,000 annually were “one of the biggest contributors this quarter,” Walmart CFO John David Rennie said on the company’s quarterly earnings calls in February.