Why retailers should stick to their strengths when it comes to private brands

Tom Stephens, an expert in private brands and the founder of Brand Strategy Consultants, recently authored a white paper titled “Build and Sustain Your Private Brands with a Greater Level of Success in the Face of Rapid Change.” Stephens, who is also a member of the Private Label Hall of Fame, recently discussed the white paper in a series of podcasts with Store Brands’ Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Aylward. The white paper contains 12 critical success factors that retailers need to embrace for their private brands programs.

In this third of four podcasts, Stephens, who developed and brought Canadian retailer Loblaws’ lauded President’s Choice private brand to the United States in the early 1990s, discusses the seventh, eighth and ninth critical success factors listed in the white paper, which are:

• The importance of being rigid about your after-sales service in terms of customer guarantee, call center, product return and product recall. .

• Why retailers need to build on their strengths when it comes to private brands and downplay in areas where they know they can’t win.

• How to ensure consistent messaging across private brands as it relates to value, transparency and social responsibility.

Stephens will address the last three critical success factors in the fourth and final podcast,, which will appear in Store Brands Today on May 13.

Click here to listen to the third podcast: