Pets, Babies Highlight Continued Growth With AWG's Best Choice Own Brand
Since its debut in 1985, Associated Wholesale Grocers' Best Choice private label has been a mainstay in the company’s own brand portfolio, and today includes a roster of more than 3,300 products.
With the candles having been recently blown out on the brand’s 40th birthday cake, Best Choice is showing no signs of slowing. Recently, the company’s AWG Brands division launched two new product lines that carry the Best Choice name: Pure Wonder by Best Choice in pets and Hello World by Best Choice in baby care.
The new collections are now available to AWG member retailers and feature a host of products company officials tout as offering quality at a value.
Store Brands spoke with Emily Detwiler, vice president of AWG Brands, and Kara Finger, marketing manager with AWG Brands, about the recent additions to the Best Choice brand.
STORE BRANDS: What factors led to the development of Pure Wonder?
EMILY DETWILER: There continues to be growth in the number of pets in households, and we knew this was an area we needed to reinvent and reinvest in for our retailers. There has also been a humanization of pets in recent years, and people are treating pets as part of the family. Those factors were part of what inspired us to create Pure Wonder. Given the emotional connection people have with their pets, we started playing with different names and brand positioning. We came up with a name that says every pet deserves the best, and we want to provide these furry and feathered family members with the nourishment and care they deserve. All of our products are backed by our 100% guarantee.
SB: Dogs and cats are the two biggest segments in the category, but what drove the decision to include products for birds?
ED: We already had bird food in our existing lineup sold under our Best Choice brand, and we wanted to continue that. We have had success with (bird) products before, so everything we had from our prior Best Choice lineup, we wanted to bring into the Pure Wonder brand.
SB: How do the new products available under Pure Wonder complement or build on the products that were already in AWG’s private label assortment?
ED: First, we had been without a dry kibble line for the past year and a half. It’s exciting for us to relaunch that entire segment within dry kibble for cats and dogs. That fills a void for our retailers. On the wet food side, we had a nice assortment of canned items for cats and dogs. But we reformulated to a better-for-you ingredient standard. We also have quite a bit coming in terms of new items. We have 11 new wet cat food products and 11 wet dog food items, with many of those to be offered in variety packs. We know that households are looking for variety to feed their pets to avoid them eating the same thing every day. Also on the way for cats and dogs are wet food pouches that can be easily opened and used as the pets’ main food or added to kibble. Wet food is of particular importance with cats, as hydration is an issue. Our food allows them to get more hydration into their diets.
Inspiration For Pure Wonder
"There continues to be growth in the number of pets in households, and we knew this was an area we needed to reinvent and reinvest in for our retailers. There has also been a humanization of pets in recent years, and people are treating pets as part of the family. Those factors were part of what inspired us to create Pure Wonder."
— Emily Detwiler, AWG Brands
SB: Pet parents today are focused on the health content of the food they’re feeding their pets. Was this a big factor when developing products for Pure Wonder?
ED: It was definitely something we were thinking about. We have a strong relationship with our wet pet food supplier, and they have been encouraging us to have better ingredients in our pet food. This was something we were already working towards over the past year, and offering products with improved formulations at the same time we were rebranding was fantastic.
SB: How do you balance the desire to offer products with better ingredients with making sure the products offer a high perceived value?
ED: That’s always a challenge. As with our Best Choice family of brands, we strive to make sure we’re able to offer a savings of 20% over national brands. But we don’t want to sacrifice on quality, so we spent a good amount of time working to find a supplier that was able to produce high-quality products at a good value. We’re also launching the program with some strong promotions for our retailer partners, and we’re trying some things we haven’t done before. These promotions are planned for the first several months the product is out there.
SB: The packaging is eye-catching and tells a clear story. It appears that a great deal of time was spent on packaging design.
ED: Yes, the packaging looks amazing. We wanted to make sure that the brand would stand out on shelf and give the appearance of a true brand. That links into the idea of us establishing an emotive connection with the Pure Wonder by Best Choice brand. We partnered with Daymon Design to do this, and we think they knocked it out of the park. We recently showed it to our retailer members, and they were very excited to have it on their shelves.
SB: When you look at the pet category as a whole, what opportunities do you see for future private label growth?
ED: I definitely think we’re going to see some strong growth in the category and feel Pure Wonder will breathe some new life into Pet. The way we have created this brand, consumers are not as likely to switch once they are established with the brand. We have also taken steps on our packaging, our website, and blog to create connections with pet parents. Our goal is to get into repeat purchases as Pure Wonder becomes their brand of choice.
SB: In addition to Pure Wonder, AWG also launched Hello World in the baby category. What were the motivating factors that drove the development and launch of the line?
KARA FINGER: Through category research, we confirmed several important factors about the baby category that influenced our decision to develop and launch Hello World by Best Choice. We know that purchases in the baby category tend to be more emotional than other buying decisions, and shoppers are looking for products they can trust. Parents, especially first-time parents, want quality products while also balancing the new expenses that come with parenthood. Technology, especially in diapers and training pants, has evolved. With all of these factors in mind, we wanted to establish a brand that serves as an expert in baby care with quality, advanced technology, while building upon the trust and value that comes with the Best Choice brand. With almost 30% of consumers buying private brand diapers and almost 50% buying private brand baby wipes, we know consumers are looking for private brand products in this category.
SB: With the baby category dominated by major brands, what steps were taken to allow the products to stand out on shelf?
KF: A lot of care and consideration went into developing the name and packaging of Hello World by Best Choice. We want to communicate the quality of the products when customers read the packaging, and the pricing shows value to shoppers. Through an in-store signage package, online marketing content, and digital coupons, we've created a suite of marketing and promotional support to help AWG member retailers. As with all AWG Brands products, Hello World by Best Choice is backed by our 100% guarantee, so customers can try these new products at no risk. We stand behind this guarantee because we are confident in the quality and value that Hello World by Best Choice will bring to shoppers.
