From Our Print Edition

Left to right: Megan Flynn, category manager; Kasey Sheffer, vp, marketing & own brands; Kimberly Dale, senior director, dairy & frozen; Carly Simonetti, director, own brands.

Like many supermarket chains, Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle has seen significant own brand sales and share gains in recent years. Unlike many competitors, however, the regional powerhouse isn’t looking to dominate every category it enters — or even to enter every category.

“We’re very deliberate in the choices that we make,” says VP of marketing and own brands Kasey Sheffer, citing a rigorous category review process that helps the retailer identify own brand opportunities. But it all starts with shoppers. “Customers are at the center of our decision-making,” she explains. “So it’s about understanding all of the things that matter to them in a given category and then showing up where and how they need us to.” Often that means offering a reliable value versus the national brand equivalent. Other times it means filling a gap in the assortment. And sometimes it means developing an innovative new item that truly differentiates Giant Eagle from other chains.

“Customers are at the center of our decision-making.”

Giant Eagle’s frozen and dairy assortment includes approximately 650 private label items across three different own brands, each of which plays a distinct role. The flagship Giant Eagle brand represents approximately 70% of own brand sales across the store, while the free-from and organic Nature’s Basket brand accounts for about 15% of total own brand sales. The remaining 15% is represented by the Market District brand, which takes its cues from the Giant Eagle banner of the same name, “boasting innovative and unique products with a culinary story to tell,” according to Sheffer. But what differentiates Market District from similar own brands at other retailers is its accessibility, she adds.

DIFFERENT, FUN & ATTAINABLE

“When I first joined Giant Eagle four-and a-half years ago, I was especially excited about Market District because of the way it’s positioned,” Sheffer recalls. While many retailers strive to offer a premium or super premium tier, those product lines are often fairly niche — and pricy — limiting the pool of buyers, she explains. “However, we see Market District primarily as an opportunity to do something a little bit different, a little more fun. Yes, it’s great quality,” continues Sheffer. “But we’re careful not to put it on such a high pedestal that it’s unattainable.”

“We see Market District primarily as an opportunity to do something a little bit different, a little more fun.”

Own brand ice cream and frozen novelties have been top performers at Giant Eagle, prompting the chain to create a destination door packed with unique items.

One of the most recent additions to the Market District lineup is a collection of frozen snacks and apps that rotates season ally. “Our innovations manager actually went on site with the supplier and worked hand in hand with them on these recipes,” says Sheffer, citing fall offerings such as Chicken Parm Spring Rolls and Chicken Bacon Ranch Mini Calzones. Why switch up the assortment several times a year? “By keeping it fresh, we’re creating urgency and excitement for the customer,” she answers. “If a particular variety does really well, we’ll bring it back the following year. And if it doesn’t get the traction we anticipated, we’ll move past it and develop something new.”

Seasonal in-and-outs have also proven popular in the on-trend cold brew coffee category, where Market District LTOs supplement year round offerings from Nature’s Basket, reports Sheffer. But some of the chain’s most successful in-and-outs have been in ice cream and frozen novelties. “We started with some smaller LTOs — a Pump- kin flavor in the fall, Peppermint in the winter — but we’ve expanded since then to include other seasons,” says Kimberly Dale, senior director of dairy and frozen. “The program has really developed quite a following,” she adds, citing e-mails from customers asking whether the chain is bringing back its Key Lime Pie flavor this summer or Holly Jolly at the holidays. (That’s how the team knows it’s on the right track.)

Seasonal items are merchandised in an endcap so consumers always know where to look for LTOs before they’re gone.

Seasonal offerings also give Giant Eagle an opportunity to roll out items with local appeal. For example, says Dale, no summer gathering within 100 miles of Pittsburgh would be complete without strawberry gelatin pretzel salad, prompting the team to look for ways to incorporate that flavor into own brand offerings. A Market District Strawberry Pretzel Dip did well last summer, so an own brand light ice cream in the same flavor is expected to debut next summer, highlighting Giant Eagle’s penchant for taking popular flavor profiles to multiple categories. In fact, the chain did the same thing with its new limited-edition Giant Eagle Maple Leaf Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches, which built on the success of its shelf-stable Maple Leaf Cookies.

That item, along with other seasonal ice creams and frozen novelties, is merchandised in a dedicated endcap, where consumers will always find LTOs. “Seasonal is the platform through which we innovate,” says Sheffer. “So it’s important to get as many eyes on the program as possible by disrupting the traffic flow and creating some stopping power.”

‘BREAKING FROM THE NORMS’

Giving endcap space to own brand LTOs is one example of Giant Eagle’s non-traditional approach to private label merchandising. “Ten to 15 years ago, there were some commonly accepted theories around merchandising private label products — when to integrate next to the national brand equivalent, when to brand block, how to display off-shelf, etc.,” says Sheffer. “But we’ve had fun over the past few years breaking from those norms…based on what’s right for own brands in a specific category.”

“We decided to create a destination door for our own brand novelties (many of which don’t have national brand equivalents) so that customers could instantly visualize just how broad our assortment is.”

Coming soon to the frozen breakfast set: a collection of high-protein offerings under the Giant Eagle brand.

Nowhere is that approach more apparent than in the frozen novelties set. “Traditionally own brands sit to the right of the national brand equivalent,” says Dale. “But we decided to create a destination door for our own brand novelties (many of which don’t have national brand equivalents) so that customers could instantly visualize just how broad our assortment is.” Along with more pedestrian offerings such as Sundae Cones, Fudge Bars and Orange Cream Bars, the own brand set includes Ice Cream Filled Cupcakes, Stroopwafel Ice Cream Sandwiches and Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches — unique items that consumers may never have noticed if they weren’t in their own door.

Since the destination door debuted, it’s been a rousing success, driving unit growth across own brand novelties. It’s a good example of a category where Giant Eagle has “created its own destiny” by seizing an opportunity to introduce differentiated private label items, says Sheffer. But in other cases, she says, the chain follows the trends by developing own brand products that meet emerging needs. Right now, that’s protein. As such, the next addition to Giant Eagle’s own brand lineup is a group of protein-rich frozen breakfast items such as waffles and French toast sticks.

Giant Eagle offers a seasonal selection of frozen snacks under its Market District brand, which features fun, innovative products with “foodie appeal.”

Oddly enough, however, the own brand products that have enjoyed some of the biggest gains recently aren’t trendy new items but staples that are already in a lot of baskets. “Small tweaks in large categories with high customer penetration can result in some really big gains,” says Sheffer, pointing to shredded cheese as an example.

During the category’s last reset, says Dale, the own brands team doubled down by expanding facings and adding new varieties such as Queso Quesadilla that resonate with shoppers planning to make certain dishes. Beyond that, she continues, “Anytime we feature [Giant Eagle cheese], we put a lot of effort behind it,” including offering extra myPerks rewards points. The own brand shredded cheese lineup is also included in the current On Sale This Season promotion, which offers reduced prices on more than 300 frequently purchased products through the end of the year (Giant Eagle frozen veggies are also included). The initiative is part of a larger $100 million Be- cause it Matters strategy to deliver better value.

EVOLVING DESIGNS & DEFINITIONS

Giant Eagle has doubled down on its popular own brand shredded cheese program, currently part of the chain’s On Sale This Season promotion.

While the Giant Eagle brand gets a lot of attention, the chain’s Nature’s Basket brand continues to gain momentum as it evolves to meet new needs. While refreshing a package design that had become a bit stale, the own brands team took the opportunity to also “re-establish the guardrails,” says Sheffer, citing changing consumer expectations around sustainability.

“We may not always be first to market. But as a regional retailer, we look for opportunities to really engage with our customers and to show up for them in ways they expect.”

Giant Eagle’s Nature’s Basket frozen shrimp recently became the first private label program to earn Fair Trade Certification, highlighting the own brand’s commitment to sustainability.

“As our free-from and organic brand, we felt [Nature’s Basket] was the right one within our portfolio to serve as our most sustainable,” she explains. So in 2023, Giant Eagle relaunched Nature’s Basket to also include responsible sourcing, relying on independent sustainability intelligence company HowGood to evaluate the social and environmental impact of every item and provide an easy-to-understand sustainability rating. (Approximately 70% of Nature’s Basket items boast Good, Great or Best HowGood ratings.)

Earlier this year, however, the brand took another giant step forward after its Nature’s Basket frozen shrimp assortment became the first private label program to earn Fair Trade Certification. While Giant Eagle’s leadership position on fair trade seafood might seem unexpected, Sheffer says it’s actually very consistent with the chain’s shopper-centric culture and willingness to innovate. “We may not always be first to market,” she explains, “But as a regional retailer, we look for opportunities to really engage with our customers and to show up for them in ways they expect.” In this case, says Sheffer, shoppers wanted fair trade seafood. So Giant Eagle delivered.

Following the 2023 Nature’s Basket redesign, Giant Eagle gave the Market District brand a makeover as well. “Market District has always been a vibrant brand, but the design architecture looked different from category to category, making it difficult for the customer to identify the brand throughout the store,” says Sheffer. In an effort to create more consistent brand awareness, the chain developed a more coherent look. But to reflect the fun vibe of its Market District stores, “We took every package design through an illustrator, which adds some uniqueness and a more distinctive look,” she explains.

Across the industry, “We know that own brands are a driver of store choice for consumers, and we want to lean into that,” Sheffer concludes. “We want to provide an assortment that customers know they can only get at Giant Eagle.”