Reported by: WROC-TV
Monday, Feb 15, 2010 @01:30pm EST
Don't be shocked if you can't find your favorite salad dressing or mouthwash on your next trip to Wal-Mart.
Large retailers -- including Wal-Mart, the world's biggest -- are wrestling with having too many types of brand-name products. At the same time, shoppers are buying less and looking for bargains.
So unless a particular brand is a top seller in its category, it's getting knocked off the shelf -- and sometimes getting replaced by a cheaper store brand.
For example, Wal-Mart recently removed Glad and Hefty-branded storage bags from shelves, replacing them with its own lower-priced Great Value brand, according to the parent companies of both products.
In the case of Hefty, parent Pactiv Corp. told CNNMoney.com that Wal-Mart reversed its decision, and will return its products to shelves this spring -- after Pactiv agreed to make the Great Value bags that will sell alongside the competing Hefty product.
There is more at the link...
I wonder how long before this practice of dropping some brands becomes more prevalent? Margins are shrinking for everyone and some producers may not be able to continue in this economy.
Personally, I shop several stores, some 45 miles away in a larger city. Sometimes it’s price, sometimes it’s quality, sometimes it is a product no one else carries.
The GV white label line reminds me of commodities distributed to the needy back in the 40s/50s. However, some of these products are just fine. If something isn’t, well, I just don’t buy it again.
Ditto for Aldi’s. Some of their products, like Clancy’s Potato chips ($1.29) are as good as anyone’s. Their instant mixes for potatoes and stuffing are the same price that GV brand _used_ to be ($1.00 box)and are offered in flavors no one else produces. I cannot fault the canned broth or vegetables and if they are inferior product, or irregulars, it doesn’t show. Their butter and cream cheese are always about a dime or more less for the same brand than even the grocery about a mile away that I love for top quality produce and ethnic foods. My local grocery has begun offering full muscle cuts in cryovac at prices close to Sam’s, from local producers, so I wait for their bi-annual sales and stock up. That store has good local produce and meat, but their paper, cleaning and canned items are just too pricey for me.
If I am disappointed in the selection at Walmart, I wait and buy that item elsewhere. But some things seem to disappear or be in short supply at many stores. This is not just food, but things like the strapping tape with fiber strengthening. I think we are seeing a shake out in producers, not some marketing scheme. When I can get to a Trader Joe’s, it is a long enough time between trips that I am amazed at what is no longer available. Whole Foods dropped many independent brands years ago and now only offers some items under their house label. I think they make most of their income from their prepared foods.
This is, as my accounts all repeat:”A challenging environment”, even for industries that thought themselves “recession-proof”. Taxes and utilities increase, but price-points either come down or the item disappears. People from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia have always thought there were too many brands in America. Now that we are also being forced into socialism, that is going to change.