Private Label Sales Continue Growing At BJ's Wholesale Club
BJ’s Wholesale Club continues to expand its private label product assortment, as officials with the retailer said the company is on pace to grow own brand sales penetration to 25%, and remains confident that it will reach its goal of 30% in the coming years.
That was the summation offered by Bob Eddy, BJ’s president and chief executive officer, during the company’s recent investor conference call to discuss third quarter results. He also noted that shoppers who engage with its own brands spend more and visit BJ’s stores more often.
“We are strengthening our offering, and our members are taking notice,” he said. “We've previously discussed the profound impact that (private label) had on our paper category. In the third quarter, our own brand sales and sundries were up 20% year over year, led by paper.”
Eddy noted the retailer’s own brand strategy is also playing a key role in BJ’s general merchandise transformation. For example, he pointed to its refreshed apparel assortment that now features products with improved quality and has expanded into the children’s and women’s segments.
“We also put extra care into the presentation, highlighting key features and making the items more appealing for our members,” he said. “These efforts resulted in a 700-basis-point increase in own brands apparel sales penetration in the third quarter.”
Beyond growth of its assortment of own brand products, Eddy noted that by the end of November the retailer will have its full autonomous, AI-powered robots in all clubs. The technology will offer a number of benefits including in-club inventory tracking, pricing precision, faster restocking, and more efficient and accurate buy online, pick up in club, and curbside orders.
“We will continue to lean into investments that make our business more efficient and convenient while delivering outsized value to our members,” he said. “Finally, we remain pleased with the performance of our newer clubs, and we are further growing our footprint.”
BJ’s Wholesale recently entered into its 20th state with the opening of its new club in Madison, Ala. Five more new clubs are expected to come online in the fourth quarter, which would give the retailer a total of nine new store openings for its current fiscal year.
