Kroger officially announces launch of Hemisfares brand

While reporting on his company’s fiscal 2015 second-quarter earnings, Rodney McMullen, CEO of The Kroger Co., Cincinnati, said Kroger would be launching an “entirely new” private brand called Hemisfares at the end of September. The new brand is meant to offer Kroger customers “the best food finds from around the globe … for an amazing authentic eating experience,” he said. Every Hemisfares product is imported directly to Kroger stores from whichever country and region that product is originally found.

“The most exciting part is that no one else has a brand like this,” McMullen added. “Hemisfares is a great example of what makes our corporate brands unique, and we think [it] will appeal to millennials, foodies and, ultimately, all cuts of our customers.”

Some Hemisfare brand products actually made their debut very early in 2015, according to the Global New Products Database from global market research firm Mintel. Those products primarily consist of pasta varieties sourced from Italy.

Later on in the call, Michael Schlotman, Kroger's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said that Kroger feels the upscale product line will appeal to a broad range of shoppers because even “budget shoppers” will “splurge” on certain items. He went on to say that the addition of the new private brand will help drive the retailer's private brand mix of items to be “a little bit different than it has been historically.”

McMullen said Kroger's multi-tiered corporate brands portfolio has always been a powerful differentiator for the company.

“Simple Truth continues to see explosive growth,” he said, “[while] Private Selection remains a vibrant billion-dollar brand that is growing in the double digits and developing unique offerings in many categories.”