Target Plays Favorites With New Private-Label Brand

Target is launching a new private-label food and beverage line that the Minneapolis-based retailer hopes will hit the sweet spot for indulgence-craving consumers.

The Favorite Day brand, which will debut in-stores and online at Target.com on April 5, will feature more than 700 products, with a focus on treat-yourself sweets and salty snacks, such as birthday cake ice cream, nondairy frozen dessert bars, caramel macchiato trail mix and everything bagel-seasoned mini croissants. "We know that now more than ever, our guests believe in treating themselves as a balance to everyday schedules and stressors," Target said in a news release announcing the brand.

The launch of Favorite Day comes a little more than a year-and-a-half after the introduction of Good & Gather, Target's largest, everyday. staples-focused food and beverage line. Good & Gather, which debuted in September 2019, was one of 10 Target-owned brands to finish 2020 with more than $1 billion in sales, Target noted in an investors presentation earlier this month. 

"Good & Gather is off to a tremendous start," Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell told investors and analysts in announcing the retailer's fourth-quarter and fiscal 2020 earnings, adding that Target is "very excited about the momentum we have with food and beverage."

Favorite Day will serve as a "sweet and savory complement to Good & Gather," Target stated in its news release. The line, with all products priced below $15, "makes it easy for guests to treat themselves and share joyful moments with those they love," the company offered. 

Across retail, private labels were a success story in 2020, with retailers' own brands seeing their growth accelerate during the pandemic, Chicago-based market research firm IRI reported in January. Private-label products took share from larger manufacturers as consumers added niche products—and whatever was available on shelves amid COVID-19-related shortages—to their carts. Attractive prices and convenience-oriented, more-creative offerings also are spurring private-label trials and repeat buys.

At Target, price isn't the only factor compelling consumers to choose private-label products, Cornell said. Guests "also love the brands"—and that can continue to be a differentiator for Target going forward, he added. Though the Favorite Day line wasn't teased at the time, Cornell noted that more private brands were on the way for Target in 2021.

In the earnings presentation, Cornell also emphasized Target's continued aim to be, at a fundamental level, a joy to shop—a retail destination that consumers turn to because they want to, not just because they need a few varied items. Customers appreciate the "ease and everyday inspiration of shopping at Target," he said. 

Starting in April, for guests seeking to mark special occasions or "celebrate weekdays," as the new label urges, that inspiration can include ice creams, cheesecake bites, mocktails and cake-decorating supplies under the Favorite Day banner.