Shoppers Seek Health Benefits in Fresh Categories More Than Ever

At the April 27 Store Brands Industry Forum on Consumer Trends, Liz Tyler, category strategy manager of Our Brands at Sprouts Farmers Market, discussed the shift towards fresh and prepared items, and how the grocer has adjusted its private brand selection to meet consumer needs.

A keynote address on consumer attitudes towards private label kicked off the event, which was Store Brands’ second industry forum of 2022, and included other panels such as innovative consumables and reaching younger shoppers.

“For us, ‘fresh’ is as much about the experience as it is about the product,” said Tyler. “At Sprouts, we think about our customers in two different ways. We have our health enthusiasts and we have our experience seekers. We have to make sure we offer a very curated assortment that’s attribute focused to meet the needs of both of those groups of customers.”

Tyler, who oversees deli, bakery and prepared foods, said the fresh items from Sprouts’ private brands that customers are gravitating towards are ones that offer health benefits. She added that the pandemic has made consumers hyper-aware of food and ingredient attributes.

“Customers are more focused on their well-being than ever, and they’re much more educated than they’ve ever been,” she said. “Consumers know what questions to ask about a product. They’re comparing the store brand product to the name brand product, and they can do all of the research before they even walk in the store. It’s really important that we don’t just create the products that meet those needs, but that we tell the story of the product in a way that’s easy for them to access. We’ve really been looking at making it easier to display that information [product attributes].”

The forum can be viewed on-demand here.