PRIVATE-LABEL ISB PRODUCTS CAN BOOST IMAGE

ROSEANNE HARPER

INDIANAPOLIS -- Private-label branding has evolved into a marketing tool that -- when employed in the bakery -- can both seal loyalty and pull customers into the store more often, retailers say.

In this era of chain mergers when retailers are seeking a point of differentiation, bread or cakes can be the pivotal ingredient in building a name for themselves -- but the products must be given a special identity and marketed well, they said.

"Not all of our private-label products are unique in the marketplace, but working with a full palette of marketing options, we've created a unique identity. With that and customer service, you can -- in the eyes of your customers -- become the only bakery to do what it does," said Janet Kreiner, bakery manager at West Point Market, Akron, Ohio, an upscale, single-unit independent that's renowned for innovative merchandising and customer service.

Kreiner and Patricia Stauff, bakery/deli buyer for Strack & Van Til Supermarkets, Schererville, Ind., were panelists at the Retailer's Bakery Association Marketplace 2001 Conference & Expo. Both talked about how their respective companies have built special identities with the help of their bakeries. They were on the panel with Gerald Lyons and John Waters, partners in Greer, S.C.-based MarCom Communications, a fresh-foods marketing firm. All stressed the importance of making private label/signature products part of a thought-out program that includes ongoing marketing.

Such items must have an aura built around them that gives consumers a compelling reason to come to the store to buy them, panelists said.

Kreiner talked about West Point's signature Killer Brownies and scratch crusty breads.

They're marketed as products of West Point Market Brownie Co. and West Point Market Bread Co. Signs, ads, stickers and packaging identify the products as such. So does West Point Market's Web site. That, the store's ambiance and its high level of customer service together convince consumers that neither the products nor the West Point Market experience can be had anywhere else, she said.

And the numbers show that a lot of consumers are convinced. West Point Market literally sells tons of brownies. Last year, it sold 1,385 full sheet pans of them, which translates into 24,930 pounds, Kreiner said.

Strack & Van Til, with 17 stores in the region, gives quality and consistency priority, just as West Point Market does, and then markets its signature items with lots of advertising, labels and sampling. With a focus on cakes, the company promotes the fact that it uses real whipped cream in its frostings and fillings.

"Our competition doesn't, and our customers know the difference," Stauff said.

Signs and product cards tell the whipped cream story, and peel-off logo labels on the products give them a special identity.

"You can't get your logo seen enough and it doesn't cost a lot to do it. You can use stickers, instead of buying special packaging. And you can get a logo patch put on associates' regular aprons and caps. There's not much extra cost," she said.

Strack & Van Til does that with its Centrella private-label bread line that it also aggressively cross merchandises, bringing customers' attention to the product outside the bakery.

"For example, we use our own focaccia for a signature sandwich in our coffee shop," Stauff said.

Lyons and Waters underscored that private label and signature products, if they are to be successful, are part of a whole program that requires commitment from the top management down to store level.

That may sound daunting, but there are relatively simple products that could be given their own punch with creative marketing, Lyons said. Indeed, he emphasized that a single product line in the bakery could do the job of creating a special identity for the store.