Latest news with #privateLabel
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Clorox's Innovation Strategy Elevates Everyday Essentials
Innovation sits at the core of The Clorox Company 's CLX strategy to remain competitive in a category dominated by global giants and cost-effective private labels. It focuses on consumer-centric innovation, wherein improvements in performance, sensory appeal and convenience are key levers. In third-quarter 2025, Clorox highlighted the success of several premium products such as Scentiva disinfecting sprays, the upgraded ToiletWand and odor-control litter, all designed to command a premium while meeting real, evolving consumer needs. This strategy aligns with the company's belief that consumers are still willing to pay more for products that deliver superior value per use. Clorox's approach to innovation is both bifurcated and realistic. On one hand, the company is leaning into premiumization across categories to differentiate from private label. On the other hand, it is expanding price-pack architecture to provide budget-conscious consumers with flexible options, such as smaller entry-price packs and value sizes for club and mass channels. Clorox has been disciplined in its promotional strategy, choosing to support innovation through targeted marketing and selective discounting rather than broad-based price cuts. This dual approach allows the company to protect margins while defending its share across income segments and competitive environments. Looking ahead, Clorox remains committed to investing in R&D, supported by tools like its digital transformation and upcoming ERP system upgrade, which will enable more agile innovation and supply chain responsiveness. Despite current market headwinds and volatility in consumer spending, the company sees innovation as a key driver of long-term growth and margin expansion. Clorox's track record of delivering trustworthy, high-performing products in essential categories uniquely positions it to win in both up and down cycles, provided the company continues to innovate where it matters most to consumers. Clorox's Competitors in Innovation: PG,CL & CHD's Smart Moves The Procter & Gamble Company PG, Colgate-Palmolive Company CL and Church & Dwight Co., Inc. CHD are the key consumer staple companies competing with Clorox in the global arena. Procter & Gamble uses a smart strategy when it comes to innovation. The company keeps improving its popular brands like Tide, Febreze and Mr. Clean by adding new features, better scents or easier packaging. At the same time, PG gives shoppers different choices depending on their budget. Colgate focuses on value-driven innovation, especially in home care and personal hygiene. The company regularly updates products with new scents, improved cleaning formulas and convenient packaging. Colgate also invests in sustainability, such as recyclable bottles and concentrated products. Its innovation is often designed to meet the needs of both budget-conscious and environmentally aware consumers. Church & Dwight is a key competitor to Clorox, known for its value-focused and niche household brands like OxiClean and Arm & Hammer. The company emphasizes cost-effective innovation, often targeting specific consumer needs with affordable, functional products. CHD competes directly with Clorox in laundry additives, cleaning sprays, and baking soda-based solutions. CLX's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates Clorox shares have lost 25.5% year to date compared with the industry's growth of 2.2%. From a valuation standpoint, CLX trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.0X, significantly below the industry's average of 20.23X. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLX's 2025 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 14.9%, whereas its 2026 earnings estimate suggests a year-over-year decline of 5.4%. The estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been unchanged in the past 30 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CLX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Only $1 to See All Zacks' Buys and Sells We're not kidding. Several years ago, we shocked our members by offering them 30-day access to all our picks for the total sum of only $1. No obligation to spend another cent. Thousands have taken advantage of this opportunity. Thousands did not - they thought there must be a catch. Yes, we do have a reason. We want you to get acquainted with our portfolio services like Surprise Trader, Stocks Under $10, Technology Innovators, and more, that closed 256 positions with double- and triple-digit gains in 2024 alone. See Stocks Now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG): Free Stock Analysis Report Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL): Free Stock Analysis Report The Clorox Company (CLX): Free Stock Analysis Report Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (CHD): Free Stock Analysis Report
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Brand That's Behind Trader Joe's Popular Hummus
Long-time patrons of Trader Joe's aren't surprised at the lack of brand-name products when they pop in for TJ's best snacks, but they are constantly on the hunt to find out which companies supply the store with its private-label merchandise. Instead of manufacturing the in-store brands itself, the retailer outsources production to businesses more aptly equipped to make its signature grocery items, often utilizing corporations many are personally familiar with. Some folks may already be aware of the brands behind Trader Joe's smoothies and salad kits, yet the producer of the neighborhood market's hummus has remained somewhat elusive. It was discovered through a recall notice in 2015 that, for at least some time, TJ's hummus was provided by Tribe Mediterranean Foods. However, it seems that the grocer has since moved on to another manufacturer to make its creamy hummus. The cat was let out of the bag via another recall notice in 2023, which indicated Bakkavor Foods was responsible for making at least one of Trader Joe's eight varieties of hummus. The recall occurred as a consequence of Bakkavor mistakenly placing Genova Pesto in a tub marked "Hummus Dip." The hummus container listed the ingredients for that item, not pesto, resulting in a recall of the product for undeclared milk and walnuts. Although Bakkavor was never officially identified as a manufacturer of Trader Joe's hummus, it is clear the company was supplying the grocer with that commodity, given that it had the containers for TJ's snack in its possession. Read more: 15 Mistakes Everyone Makes When Shopping At Trader Joe's Bakkavor Foods touts itself as the leading producer of fresh prepared food. With operations in the U.S., U.K., and China, the company manufactures artisan breads, dips, soups, sauces, and other fresh meals for several grocery retailers in those regions. Its United States division is the smallest of the three, only accounting for roughly 5% of the corporation's revenue. Interestingly enough, Bakkavor lists some of its grocery retail customers in the U.K. and China but not the United States. Companies like Aldi that lack brand-name products by design are notoriously tight-lipped about the suppliers of their private-label products. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume Bakkavor Foods may furnish prepared dips, soups, and sauces for Trader Joe's competitors like Aldi and Costco's Kirkland Signature brand. Still, while Bakkavor appears to be making hummus for TJ's as recently as 2023, that may no longer be the case. It seems apparent that Trader Joe's moved on from Tribe Mediterranean Foods after its recall fiasco in 2015, and it is possible that the retailer has found another supplier of its signature hummus after Bakkavor committed its blunder. Read the original article on Foodie.
ABC News
07-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Aldi is known for drawing inspiration from big brands. Here's how experts say the retailer does it
It's no secret that Aldi, the supermarket chain that once had the slogan "like brands, only cheaper", sells products visually similar to well-established competitors. In the cereal aisle of each store, brown boxes of Power Grain are reminiscent of their Kellogg's counterpart, and in the snack aisle packets of Blackstone chips appear to draw inspiration from Red Rock Deli. In the US, blue boxes of Aldi-brand cream-filled biscuits are so similar to Oreos that the company behind the snack giant is suing the supermarket for "blatant copying". It's not the first time the chain has landed in legal trouble over its cheaper, duplicated private-label brands. In Australia, there have been several legal cases against Aldi. But intellectual property and consumer experts are not worried about this case creating legal implications for Australian consumers, who they say are largely unphased by Aldi's "phantom labels". "Ultimately the key reason they [Aldi] do this is about visual congruence," retail expert Gary Mortimer said. "So, when we're shopping in a supermarket, it's historically a mundane, habitual, low-involvement decision-making context. 'You walk down an aisle and you think Cadbury is purple. They [consumers] are influenced by pack colour, brand name or packaging shape." Professor Mortimer said when a consumer saw a product similar to another brand's, they might infer it was the same. "What the danger is, is a customer goes, 'Well, actually, their cereal is just as good as the Kellogg's version,'" he said. "Brands themselves spend a lot of money ensuring their brand is high quality. "Then a new player enters with a private label that looks very similar and, therefore, all of that positioning you've done with that product, the private label takes advantage of that position. "Brands would be concerned about that." Professor Mortimer said the private Aldi label was perceived as higher value than, say, the Coles or Woolworths generic-brands. "You won't get Aldi-brand biscuits, you'll get Belmont." In fact, they are so popular, other chains are taking a leaf out of the Aldi playbook, creating their own, cheaper, private brands. He said Woolworths and Coles had created private labels that sold cleaning products and pet food. "To some point, supermarkets understand we won't feed our dog Woolworths pet food but we might feed them a cheaper brand like Baxter's, which is actually Woolworths owned." With Choice ranking Aldi as the cheapest supermarket in Australia in its past five surveys, legal experts say the occasional legal challenges Aldi faces for sailing "close to the wind" with its packaging and branding are largely justified. While Aldi has faced legal challenges in Australia in the past over its packaging and the likeness of its products to rivals, the University of Sydney's Fady Aoun says it is far more challenging to take Aldi to court here. The senior lecturer in intellectual property law said this was because Australia's legal systems were vastly different to those in the US, for instance. "In the realm of trademark law and other forms of forms of policing commercial practices, American law is vastly different to Australian law," he said. "And, in addition to trademark infringement, they have something called unfair competition, which Australian law doesn't adopt "Their trademark law is far more protective of arguably trading interests and goes further than the Australian law in this respect." But there are several ways legal action can be pursued. Last year in Australia the company Hampden Holdings and Lacorium Health Australia successfully sued Aldi Foods for breach of copyright in relation to children's food products. Hampden licenses intellectual property to Every Bite Counts, which sells children's food products under Baby Bellies, Little Bellies and Mighty Bellies, which are sold in Australia. In 2018 and 2019, Aldi engaged the company Motor Design to re-design the packaging for its baby food and product range. The case found that in April 2019, Aldi instructed Motor Design to reuse the Little Bellies brand as the "benchmark" for the re-design of the packaging for its Mamia dry food range. The packaging and labelling were put side by side in court documents to highlight how similar each looked. "Aldi, they sail close to the wind," Dr Aoun said. "They sometimes overstep the mark. Other times they're just short of what is impermissible. "I suspect there is a strong legal department there and that's their business mode." The court found Hampden and Lacorium's owned the packaging designs. Aldi is currently appealing against the court decision. It was approached for comment. "The typical claims in Australia here are trademark infringement, misleading and deceptive conduct and — much more difficult — the common law action of 'passing off'," Dr Aoun said. "Hampden is just a company that holds IP rights and they are the holder of the copyright," Jane Rawlings, an intellectual property barrister said. "So they weren't suing on the trademark; they were suing on the look of the packaging, how it presents itself to consumers. "That was successful because the court had found Aldi had deliberately modelled their snacks on the Baby Bellies." Separately, Aldi won a federal court appeal in 2018 against a deceptive conduct ruling over hair care products brought against the supermarket chain by Moroccanoil Israel. Dr Rawlings said this was harder to prove. "You have to show there is reputational goodwill in the brand, and in this purpose it is by using a similar name, brand or look that misleads consumers and that damages the goodwill of the brand because they're being diverted to a cheaper alternative or because the brand owner is losing sales," she said. "You have to still prove the conduct has been deceptive and what Aldi do is tread a fine line where they've got a lookalike brand but it's not enough to argue consumers are being misled." In the UK in 2023, Cider producer Thatcher's successfully won a legal battle against Aldi, claiming it "copycatted" its Cloudy Lemon Cider in "taste and appearance". This was a lookalike trademark case that argued Aldi's Taurus drink had been "deliberately riding on the coat-tails" of the cider company's reputation as a brand. Dr Rawlings said she believed registering a brand as a trademark was one of the best ways to protect it. "To be honest, and if I were a brand owner trying to protect the look of packaging, I'd be looking very seriously at trademarking registration because it's relatively cheap and then you can basically sue on the trademark registration." Ultimately, experts agree the impact on consumers is relatively low. "What Aldi will typically say is our consumers are not confused [and that] while they may draw inspiration from leading brands there's no confusion people know what they're getting," Dr Aoun said.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zumiez Inc (ZUMZ) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong North American Sales and Private ...
Release Date: June 05, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Zumiez Inc (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) reported a 5.5% increase in comparable sales, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of positive growth. The company's North American business showed resilience with a 7.4% increase in comparable sales. Zumiez Inc (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) exceeded the high end of its guidance ranges for both sales and profitability. The private label expansion reached 30% of total sales in the first quarter of 2025, up from 23% in 2023. The company maintains a strong financial position with over $101 million in cash and marketable securities and no debt. Other international net sales, including Europe and Australia, decreased by 0.2% from the previous year. The company faced a one-time legal cost of $2.9 million associated with a settlement, impacting SG&A expenses. Operating loss for the first quarter was $19.9 million, slightly improved but still significant. The European market remains challenging, with a slow start in 2025 and a 14.8% decrease in May comparable sales. The ongoing tariff situation adds uncertainty and complexity to pricing and could impact consumer spending. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with ZUMZ. Q: Can you provide more details on how tariffs are impacting your cost of goods sold (COGS), particularly regarding your private label and third-party brands? A: Unidentified_3 (CFO): We've been proactive in addressing tariffs, starting last November. About 30% of our products are private label, which we control, while 70% are branded, requiring collaboration with our partners. We've reduced our China exposure from 50% and aim to lower it further by year-end. We've worked with brands to manage costs and have adjusted pricing and bundling strategies to offset tariff impacts. Q: Despite tariffs, you anticipate product margin growth. How do tariffs on private labels factor into this? A: Unidentified_3 (CFO): We've employed strategies like collaborating with brands and manufacturers to manage costs, adjusting private label strategies, and selectively increasing prices. These efforts should allow us to achieve modest product margin growth, despite the tariff environment. Q: Regarding your international operations, particularly in Europe, what challenges are you facing, and what strategies are you implementing to improve profitability? A: Unidentified_3 (CFO): We've slowed unit growth in Europe to focus on profitability. Despite a slow start in 2025, we're focusing on product innovation and margin expansion. The fourth quarter is crucial, and we're aligning our strategies to drive top-line growth and manage expenses effectively. Q: How are you managing inventory levels, especially with the potential impact of tariffs? A: Unidentified_3 (CFO): We pulled inventory receipts forward in anticipation of tariffs, aligning our inventory levels with prior years. We expect to end fiscal 2025 with inventory levels down from fiscal 2024, ensuring quality and alignment with demand. Q: Can you elaborate on your share repurchase program and its impact on financials? A: Unidentified_3 (CFO): We repurchased 1.8 million shares in Q1, fully utilizing the previous buyback authorization. A new $15 million buyback plan has been approved, expected to continue through June 2026. While it impacts quarterly EPS, it is expected to positively affect full-year and future earnings. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
05-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
CVS is giving its healthcare products a glow-up to lure you away from brand names
The look of the health and wellness products at CVS is about to get a little less prescriptive. The pharmacy chain, which reported $94.59 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, landing ahead of expectations, announced it is overhauling its packaging for 68 pain reliever products this month, with updated packaging to come for nearly 3,000 other health and wellness items by the end of 2026. The outgoing packaging for the pharmacy's private-label health and wellness products looks overtly clinical, in some cases packing product information into small areas with tiny text. Consumers are already overwhelmed with so many options in the health and wellness category, according to Musab Balbale, CVS Health's chief merchandising officer. 'While we continuously strive to innovate our brands, we had not conducted a complete update of the CVS Health brand identity in almost 10 years,' Balbale tells Fast Company. 'Now, we are putting our CVS brand front and center to truly stand out on the shelf.' The new look is streamlined, with a simpler 'CVS' logo instead of 'CVS Health,' flat colors instead of gradients, and bigger product labels. The packages are easier to read, and a simplified visual hierarchy emphasizes product benefits and features. It's made for store shelves and for easy comprehension at a glance. Products for kids and babies will be labeled with a ladybug. The redesign was done over the course of a year by teams from across CVS Health working with outside partners including the brand design agency Pearlfisher. Why CVS is rebranding The new packaging is the latest example of a private-label rebrand as CVS and other retailers have invested more in their own product lines. As consumers traded down from national brands to store brands due to inflation since the pandemic, stores like Target and Walmart redesigned their house brands to grow their owned shelf space and revenue. With friendly, brightly colored packaging that's more design-forward and high-end than many of the generic brands of years past, this new generation of private-label products is meant to reach high-income shoppers with big-box-store prices. For CVS, the new packaging was made with three goals in mind: modernizing the brand, bringing the brand front and center, and emphasizing product form and benefits to make the shopping experience easier. The larger goal is associating CVS with health and wellness at large. 'With this evolution of the CVS brand, we're not only simplifying shopping for customers, but we're also aiming to become the health and wellness brand they think of first when seeking trusted solutions that deliver value and convenience,' Mike Wier, VP of store brands at CVS Health, said in a statement.
