Woolies To Ditch Homebrand Brand In Favour Of ‘Essentials’

Supermarket giant Woolworths is set to consolidate its value brand Homebrand into its other brand Essentials.

The move comes amid increased competition in the supermarket wars with Woolies wanting to improve the brand’s perception among customers, the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting.

A recent survey from research company Roy Morgan found customers are more willing to buy homebrand products from ALDI than they are from Coles or Woolworths.

“Over the last five years, the proportion of grocery buyers who say they buy more stores’-own products than well-known brands has remained static,” Angela Smith, group account director at Roy Morgan, said at the time.

“Australians are not becoming more open to them: on the contrary, trust of well-known brands over stores’-own has grown slightly since 2010, as has the proportion of grocery buyers who tend to stick with their favourite brands for most things they buy.

“Grocery buyers who usually shop at ALDI are a striking exception, being keen bargain-hunters and prolific consumers of stores’-own products. A product’s brand or label is less likely to be a conscious factor in their purchasing decisions.”

A Woolworths spokesperson confirmed the changes to its home brands this morning: “We have been reviewing the products in all of our own brand ranges to ensure we deliver even greater quality and value for our customers. Part of this review will see our current value ranges, Homebrand and Essentials, consolidated into one improved value range called Essentials.

“The Essentials range as the name suggests are products every home needs both food and non food. When customers see each product move to the new Essentials packaging they can be assured the product will offer market leading value for money for our customers.”

Woolworths isn’t the only supermarket to refresh its home brands. A few months ago Coles also revamped its products into a streamlined brand ‘Coles’.

The supermarket wars have continued to heat up over time, particularly as German discount chain ALDI has increased its foot presence around the country.

Nielsen recently reported ALDI is the only supermarket among the big three – Coles, Woolworths and ALDI – that upped its ad spend in 2015.

However, while the chain jumped from $15 million in 2014 to $28.9 million in 2015, it’s still below the ad spend for Coles ($53.6 million) and Woolworths ($87.9 million).

Lead image via Homebrand website.

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