Page 21 - Sphere No.24 (Mar 2009)

SPHERE 19
Other Superdrug own brand products also get the thumbs-up.
“The best hair colour I have used. My hair is always so soft and gorgeous after I have
used this. I would recommend it to anyone and I swear by this product, and I love telling
people about it.” (Colour Performance Natural Rich Darkest Brown).
Elsewhere in Europe, own brands are also performing admirably at the Group’s Kruid-
vat health and beauty stores in the Netherlands. Market share in baby products is particu-
larly strong. The own brand nappy range is the second-best selling nappy in the country
and one out of every three nappies sold in the Netherlands is bought at a Kruidvat store.
“We were the first retailer in the Netherlands to launch own brand baby food, the In-
stant Mother Formula. This is produced in an established ‘A’ brand factory but with a low
price, which helped to guarantee its success,” said Kruidvat Senior Buyer Eva Rooijmans.
“We followed it up by launching a wide range of baby food products containing vegetables
and fruit.”
Ms Rooijmans said own brands will become more integral to
Kruidvat’s success. “We face fierce competition from food
retailers in this market. It is therefore critical that we
continue to strengthen our ability to differentiate
ourselves from other stores through quality and
best value own brand products,” she said.
The increasing trend of consumers
choosing retailers’ own brands does not
mean the traditional named brands
are losing their importance. As Ms
Mahay pointed out: “Our mission
is to meet our customers’ needs, so
branded ranges will always have
a key part to play in our port-
folio and sales mix, as the pres-
ence and awareness of branded
ranges is much higher, given the
marketing expenditure and vis-
ibility of these ranges.
“Superdrug’s own brand rang-
es offer customers a credible, dif-
ferentiated and high quality alter-
native to the branded ranges which
is important in meeting customer
needs, as we want to be known for
offering choice and value.”
One out of
every three
nappies
sold in the
Netherlands is
bought at a
Kruidvat store
PRIVATE LABELS and own brands offer quality as well
as value, and the team at A S Watson goes to great
lengths to ensure that customers get the very best
of both worlds. “We aim to bring confidence to customers,
and to ensure the products they buy were manufactured
under stringent quality control, and represent good value
for money,” said Sébastien Pivet, A S Watson Group’s Head
of Quality Assurance for Health & Beauty Retail.
“The role of our department is to support the product
development and buying teams in identifying reliable suppli-
ers, verifying that the products were risk assessed as per our
international guidelines and ensuring the products delivered
in our stores conform to local regulatory specifications.”
This involves meeting the very highest standards. For-
mulated products such as soap and shampoo are assessed
by European toxicologists to prove their safety, and must
perform well during internal panel testing against their
benchmark. In addition, they must be hygienic, free of any
foreign contaminant, and comply with the regulations ap-
plicable in their destination countries.
QUALITY IS THE KEY
B A B Y
ACCESSORIES ✔