Product evaluation testing must keep pace with store brands' evolution
In recent years, the store brand industry has experienced greater growth than national brands in major retail chains. The New York-based Private Label Manufacturers Association notes that U.S. store brand sales increased to an all-time high of $108 billion in 2012.
Store brands have become increasingly important to retailers as a way to differentiate their brand, obtain higher margins and offer consumers more value and choice. Retailers have developed more comprehensive product specifications for private label offerings, and store brand product manufacturers have responded with improved technology and capability in their production facilities. Successful retailers and manufacturers work closely together to ensure their private label products are truly national brand comparable, and seek independent test laboratories to make objective assessments for quality, regulatory compliance, performance and safety.
For private label manufacturers, test reports can be “the judge, jury and executioner” for products and must accurately reflect product characteristics to determine national-brand equivalency on relevant criteria. Yet the same product can yield different results from different test labs, even though they all have the same goal — to objectively evaluate store brands versus the designated national brands using the appropriate test protocol and test methodologies and to interpret the resulting data accurately.
The industry needs a unique and novel approach to comprehensive product evaluations to ensure store brand equity remains strong as regulatory, consumer and competitive pressures mount. The store brand industry has evolved, and it is time for test labs to join the process by offering more robust product evaluations, technical specifications, claim substantiation, consultative audits, technical support and customer service.
Consistent high-quality products, verified by trusted third-party validation, are key to building a successful private label program. This requires labs to be knowledgeable about the products and expectations of manufacturers and retailers. No one knows the steps involved in producing a product better than the manufacturer, which needs to educate labs about product and packaging technologies, innovations, nuisances and patent issues. The independent testing lab, in turn, must listen, ask questions, distill manufacturer input into objective testing and evaluation, and eliminate potential bias.
Retailers, manufacturers and consumers all benefit from private label testing that uses current and proper product-specific test methods and properly interprets results. If the product is supposed to be national brand equivalent, it is important to establish the specification upfront and clarify what that means for physical, chemical and performance characteristics; generally, 90 percent or greater in performance. The products don’t have to be identical in every aspect, just in key consumer-perceivable areas.
Test organizations need to work more closely with manufacturers and retailers to understand their products, expectations and limitations. The retailer has to determine whether the goal is a better product, national brand equivalency or some emulation in key aspects. Test lab staff can then recommend and develop comprehensive test criteria that focus on a product’s critical components.
Product evaluation lab testing is just one part of a larger picture. To truly evaluate the prospective vendor and store brand offering, one has to look beyond the product — for example, to manufacturing operations, associated quality management systems, depth and experience of key staff, regulatory expertise, product development capabilities and responsiveness/customer service.
In part two of this column in the April issue, I’ll discuss the importance of stronger technical specifications, claim substantiation, consultative audits, technical support and customer service.
Alan Perlman is chief architect, store brand quality, compliance and value, for NSF International’s Private Label and Consumer Home Products divisions. He has more than 30 years’ experience in consumer product quality, testing and technical evaluation. For more information, contact [email protected] or 866-520-5224.