Market Basket
A premier New England grocer – known for their private label products – wanted to update and unify a tired and disconnected line of products.
Don’t mess with success was the internal motto during the private label makeover for Market Basket grocery stores. The majority of best-selling private label products in the store had not seen design improvements since their initial conception. With an industry wide increase in demand for private label products, Market Basket sought to address the change in consumer taste and enhance its private label image. Referencing the likes of Albertsons, Target and Publix – the grocer wanted to simplify and unify it’s private label design and create a scaleable design approach that could extend into product lines varying from soda and bread to paper towels and kid’s cereal.
Initial observations included misuse and inconsistency in how the corporate logo and tagline were used. Over 16 variations of the logo were found on different products reviewed. Many of the product designs were based on the industry-leading design a trend that was very popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, but had since fallen out of favor with consumers. The idea now is to differentiate private label for consumers and make it easy for them to find your products on shelves throughout the store. In an increasingly busy grocery aisle, time is limited and consistency among the private label products is essential for attracting consumers.
The challenge, lay in the huge success of the Market Basket private label product sales. How do you improve upon a line of products that consumers are already buying? The answer, very carefully. We retained the 1950s style typefaces and bold color fields and scaled back on over-the-top sales pitches and gimmicks.
Initial sales of the new private label products are strong and steadily rising. Most product names and color palettes stayed consistent with what previously existed. The consumer response has been positive and overwhelmingly good.
Implementation and further enhancements to the new design will be implemented in multiple stages and with careful consideration. Market Basket has the opportunity to attract a new consumer to its private label brand, but they must take care not to alienate the existing customer base that has made its private label sales so successful.
