Albertsons tabs Alice Chan for Own Brands team

PepsiCo’s Alice Chan has joined Albertsons Cos. as vice president of Own Brands sales and marketing.

Albertsons said that Chan, who started at the Boise, Idaho-based grocery retailer this week, will lead development and execution of strategic go-to-market plans for its expanding roster of private brands.

Most recently, Chan served as senior director of customer account sales at PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America subsidiary, based in Plano, Texas. In that role, she oversaw more than $1.5 billion in Frito-Lay annual sales across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Albertsons noted that, before coming to the company, Chan was focused on building sales strategy for key Frito-Lay national selling initiatives.

Alice Chan is a 16-year veteran of Frito-Lay North America. (Image courtesy of Albertsons Cos.)

"Alice is an energetic and visionary leader who brings more than 16 years of proven results in the CPG industry with PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division,” Chad Coester, senior vice president of Own Brands at Albertsons, said in a statement. “We have ambitious goals at Own Brands, and Alice’s work will be key to that growth.”

Own Brands expansion and innovation are linchpins of Albertsons’ growth strategy. The retailer lifted private-label penetration to a record high of 25.6% in the recently closed fiscal 2019 third quarter, and the company aims to boost that to 30% over time.

Related:Albertsons highlights Own Brands via Pinterest

Albertsons’ Own Brands portfolio now includes about 11,000 items and has 10 primary brands, with four — Lucerne, O Organics, Signature and Signature Café — topping $1 billion in annual sales. In fiscal 2019, more than 800 new Own Brands products were added.

Private-brand efforts by Albertsons in 2019 included the addition of the Plated meal kit brand to the Own Brands portfolio; an expansion of Own Brands frozen entrees, including plant-based items; a ramp-up of the Signature Select lineup; and the launch of eco-friendly items in the Open Nature line. More recently, on the marketing side, Albertsons teamed up with Pinterest to spotlight Own Brands products on the social media platform. Brian Messerschmitt, vice president of shopper and national marketing at Albertsons, discussed the Pinterest partnership at the National Retail Federation’s NRF Vision 2020: Retail’s Big Show conference in Manhattan, which ended last week.

Overall, Albertsons Cos. operates 2,262 food and drug stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under banners such as Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Sav-On, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw's, Star Market, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Amigos, Haggen and United Express.

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