19 Oct New premium house brand for Pick n Pay

Pick n Pay has announced the launch of a brand new private label brand, “Finest”, positioned as the ultimate offering in the Pick n Pay-branded range of products.

Finest has been developed as an exceptional range of sophisticated food products made from premium ingredients, raw materials and delicious flavours sourced from around the world.

Pick n Pay chief executive Nick Badminton says: “Pick n Pay’s private label brands have been incredibly well-received among South African consumers and our overall private label share of sales is already 29% across nearly 2 000 lines.

“The decision to launch Pick n Pay Finest as our latest addition to the private label range is in line with our strategy of ‘good (No Name), better (Pick n Pay brand), best (Finest)’. This new product line offers our customers beautifully-packaged premium items, sourced from the world’s finest suppliers, and chosen by our team of specialist product developers and buyers who have spent nearly two years researching what our customers desire.

“The range will offer customers the opportunity to prepare restaurant quality meals at home, in the tradition of fine dining. The range truly brings fine dining home.

“The Pick n Pay Finest label will include premier products that extensive research has shown our customers want to be able to buy at Pick n Pay, and will add to the overall customer experience of quality and convenience. The range will help drive our business ethos of putting the customer first, while delivering the best quality at the most competitive prices,” comments Badminton.

The Finest Pick n Pay label offers products that have been selected from the most authentic sources, like Kalamata olives from the Greek Peloponnese, organic coffee from Antigua, fine Belgian Chocolate, and premier South African rooibos tea.

The range will also change with the seasons so customers will have new, exciting offerings in the range throughout the year.

“The international trend in retailing shows that private label goods are growing rapidly, with massive shifts in consumer buying patterns. A Nielsen Global Private Label Report released in March 2011 illustrated that the trend towards ‘value conscious shopping’ grows during recessionary times and, according to Nielsen, there is every indication that ‘even as economies stagger out of the recession and rehabilitate, this environment will see a fair share of shoppers retain their value mind-set with an increased preference to shop at stores that have everyday low prices’.  Introducing premium products at value for money prices we believe puts us at the forefront of this global trend,” says Badminton.

The Nielsen global survey of more than 27 000 respondents across 53 countries found that the private label phenomenon is here to stay. More than half of consumers surveyed said they purchased more private label brands during the economic downturn and nearly 91% said they will continue to do so when the economy improves”.  (Nielson Global private label Report March 2011. Page 2)

Badminton says: “While internationally there are countries which are way ahead of us in terms of private label percentage sales – in the UK which has seen a rise to 43% of private label market share in 2009, and the US has seen a rise to 17% in 2009 – Nielsen shows a 14.9% weighted global average of private label product penetration into market, and we are well in line with this and set to grow much further.

“The Finest Label brings a new level of sophistication to our offering to clients. Pick n Pay is constantly investing in improvements to our range and customer experience, and we are confident that the introduction of Finest will be welcomed by our customers as they experience the best products we can bring to the fine dining market. We see this new range as the perfect complement to our other private labels,” he adds.

Source: Pick n Pay