FreshDirect is preparing for a more frugal grocery shopper as the holiday season approaches by expanding its private label and value-priced assortments, Scott Crawford, chief merchandising officer, FreshDirect, told SFA News Daily.
The company is seeking to grow its overall assortment by about 10 percent, he said, focusing on staples as well as categories that are seeing increased consumer demand, such as snacks, meal solutions, and frozen treats.
“Customers are gravitating toward our private brands in staple categories that they keep stocked in their fridges or pantries week after week, and where savings can really add up over time,” he said, citing items such as packaged greens, olive oils and vinegars, frozen fruits and vegetables, cleaning products, and pet food.
Unit volumes of its Nature’s Promise private label in the grocery category, for example, have risen 10 percent since the last quarter, Crawford said, noting that customers are shopping for Nature’s Promise items in both shelf-stable and fresh categories.
New York-based FreshDirect said last year that it had begun adding items from parent company Ahold Delhaize’s Nature’s Promise and Taste of Inspiration private labels.
Recent research has shown strong sales across the industry for private label grocery products amid ongoing food-price inflation. Retail food prices rose 13.5 percent in August, according to the Consumer Price Index, including significantly higher gains in several key categories, such as eggs, butter, and flour.
Marketing platform Catalina recently reported that as shoppers have become more sensitive to price increases, they have increasingly switched to private label. Through July 17, sales of private label baking mixes have increased by 40 percent, for example, while private label soup sales were up 17 percent and prepared foods were up 12 percent.
FreshDirect customers are also switching to more cost-effective cuts of beef, such as patties and roasts instead of steaks, Crawford said. Value packs are also gaining share in categories such as poultry, he said.
Value-added center-of-plate items have also been popular among customers, including pre-marinated items such as carne asada and chimichurri-marinated flank steak.
“People are really looking for ways to make preparing a meal easier and more affordable, presumably as restaurant prices and the cost of other convenience options have gone up,” said Crawford.
FreshDirect recently launched a new pre-marinated frozen seafood program, which Crawford said gives customers the ability to keep high-quality seafood on hand as a quick, flavorful meal solution. Items such as Lemon Pesto Butter Salmon and Sesame Teriyaki Scallops have been especially popular, he said.
Related: Loblaw Freezes Private Label Prices; Panera Updates Packaging, Expands Offerings