Asda looks to launch international own brands

Asda is looking to develop international own brands that will be sold across Wal-Mart’s grocery chains around the world.

Asda is also poised to redesign its UK own label range to improve its quality perception, according to reports.

The first categories to be overhauled will be the beers, spirits, beverages, cereals, snacks and biscuits.

They will be followed by confectionary, canned foods, soft drinks, deserts and baking products, vegetables and meat products and frozen food in November.

Asda’s “Free from” range will be redesigned in December. The Wal-Mart owned supermarket redesigned its premium Extra Special range with new recipes and packaging last year.

Asda global chief marketing officer Rick Bendel told Marketing Week that the supermarket chain was looking to develop five or six international private label brands that would be sold globally through Wal-Mart owned chains.

Bendel says that in the UK, private label ranges are part of marketing while in other countries they are seen as viewed as downmarket imitations of branded goods.

He says that own brand ranges are more sophisticated in the UK as penetration is around 50%, compared to around 15% in other countries.

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