That led me to some Googling, only to find that Target is in the midst of replacing both Simply Balanced and Archer Farms with their new flagship food brand Good & Gather. According to the Star Tribune, this new line will be Target's largest in-house brand across its store with more than 2,000 products to be rolled out over the next 18 months.
With Good & Gather, Target expects to increase its overall penetration of private-label sales in the grocery aisle. The new line, which has been in the works for a couple of years, will be free of artificial flavors and sweeteners, synthetic colors and high-fructose corn syrup. Some of the products will be similar to their Archer Farms and Simply Balanced counterparts, with some will be upgrades. For example, the lime flavor in the Simply Balanced sparkling water was allegedly reformulated to taste better in the Good & Gather version. Other products are completely new and are aimed at better addressing the changing tastes of today's consumers, such as avocado toast salad kits (with the mini-toasts serving as croutons) and beet hummus.
The downside to all this? With the expansion of Good & Gather in Target stores, some national brands might get less shelf space in the process.
4 comments:
My Target removed a ton of national brands from its dairy aisles and replaced them with Good & Gather. They replaced all of the Kraft cheese with Good & Gather. They had also ditched the Simply Balanced frozen fruit that I liked. I read an article that suggested Target is trying to emulate the success that Trader Joe's has had with its own-label brands. Maybe Good & Gather will be a hit for them, but I would question the wisdom of abruptly eliminating entire brands that people know and like.
I rarely grocery shop at Target. I go there for boxed Organic Tazo Chai, which I buy 20 at a time, and the Target brand, Market Pantry, white cheddar cheese popcorn. I understand them wanting to capture the Trader Joe's concept of in house brand shopping, but I am not confident in their taking TJ's market share. I shop at Trader Joe's and they tend to have everything I want at a great price point. Unfortunately, Target and Trader Joe's are just far enough away to make grocery shopping inconvenient, so when I go I but large quantities of the processed and frozen things I need, like the Chai, so I don't need to go back for a month or so. The fresh foods at Trader Joe's are also far superior, often organic, and much better priced than what Target offers.
Ahh and Critifur: agreed on all counts. Ironically, I now notice that Target has put up little shelf pull signs in areas of the store where the Good & Gather has replaced old favorites. For example: the new G&G sparkling water has a sign that states "If you liked Simply Balanced Sparkling Water, you'll LOVE Good & Gather!". Seems like they're trying too hard IMO.
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