Casey's has expanded its private label hydration options with flavored water.
At Casey’s, the growth in private brands over the past three years stems largely from a strategic plan that was put in place in early 2020. And inspite of the challenges the pandemic presented, the convenience store has moved forward and continues to see growth.
“We knew it was really critical for us to continue to offer affordable, high-quality choices to our guests,” said Tom Brennan, chief merchandising officer with Casey’s. “Our customers know us for our high-quality pizza that we make from scratch, so we know that anything we put the Casey’s brand on absolutely has to deliver on quality.”
Today, Casey’s has hundreds of products in more than 27 categories across the store. And differing from others in the C-store space, Casey’s opportunistically has developed sub-brands for specific product categories. For example, its selection of UP water is positioned as a premium product in the category. It also features a selection of ice cream in pint sizes sold under the Happyness By The Pint brand.
“Most of our private label products are sold under the Casey’s brand, and we also include the Casey’s name on our sub-branded products as well,” he said.
Driving Sales
With C-stores in growth mode, they are building the assortments off of recent successes. But what factors have been key to the success? TXB’s Smartt said there are several factors to the success of private brand products at his stores. They include strong packaging design, product quality and the uniqueness of flavors offered. And he’s received positive feedback directly from shoppers during his visits to stores across the chain.
“People have stopped me to tell me how much they love our rehydration products or other unique items we have developed,” Smartt explained. “It’s so exciting to get that type of input directly from our shoppers. It tells me that our team is on the right pathway.”
Echoing Smartt, Creegan said the private brand success at Love’s stems mainly from the company’s focus on providing quality products. In fact, the convenience store puts quality ahead of price as part of its effort to ensure its customers have quality products from which to choose.
“We would rather pay a little higher price and take a little bit of a margin hit to make sure we have top quality products in our private label assortment,” she said. “We also work with our analytics team to make sure we are getting the prices right on our items.”
At Casey’s, Brennan attributes the company’s success in private label to a process that is disciplined.
“You have to make sure that you have some non-negotiables when it comes to products that you’re going to put your brand on,” he said. “And that, obviously, starts with quality. And then you also have to make sure that the product pops on the shelf.”
With a focus on not just doing products that are NBEs, Brennan said Casey’s works identify white spaces across all categories that provide opportunities to develop unique items. When an opening is targeted, the company goes through a review process to see what type of products it can get in front of its shoppers.
“We know not everything is going to be a hit,” he said. “But you will never know what will be a success until we get the products in stores.”