Albertsons Companies: A Store Brands Success Story

Originally publishd on Store Brands

“Geoff has put together a diverse team; everybody brings something different to the table,” says Nancy Cota, Albertsons’ vice president of Own Brands, who has spent 42 years in the grocery industry. “That’s what makes us so strong. And when you trust each other like we trust each other, you want to win together.”

Consider Albertsons’ O Organics, which debuted in 2005 under Safeway, the grocery banner Albertsons acquired in 2015. O Organics is Albertsons’ top-selling organic brand and achieved sales of $1 billion in 2018. The line has grown to over 1,200 products, including nearly 300 introduced in 2018, which are featured in produce, dairy, meat, deli, snacks and baby items. The line also recently extended to laundry detergent.

“If you live an organic lifestyle, you can do a full shop here,” White says.

Open Nature, which launched under Safeway in 2011, is also expanding. The natural and free-from line, which extends across food and non-food categories, was redesigned in 2018 with a new logo and larger callouts to emphasize its high-quality ingredients and minimally processed stature. White expects Open Nature, which features more than 500 products, to soon be Albertsons’ fifth $1 billion store brand after Signature SELECT, Signature Café, Lucerne and O Organics.

“Sustainability has become a huge part of what customers are demanding, not just from national brands but from private brands,” Strydom stresses. “You can really go deep [with information] by using the QR codes.”

Continue reading on Store Brands. Read more about Albertsons Companies philanthropic initiatives in the latest sustainability update.