SMART & FINAL IS RENAMING PRIVATE-LABEL PRODUCT LINES

JULIE C. BOEHNING

VERNON, Calif. -- As part of a new corporate identity and expansion program, Smart & Final here has begun converting its Table Queen and Iris private-label products to the Smart Buy and Smart & Final corporate brands, respectively. "When we did a lot of our research," said Leanne Reynolds, director of corporate communications, "people who bought the Iris brand mentally called it the Smart & Final brand. Hence, why not call it the Smart & Final brand?" Smart & Final, a nonmembership warehouse grocery chain, operates stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico and recently has added six Smart & Final stores in Florida. According to Reynolds, four more Florida stores are slated to open next year.

The corporate brand conversion, Reynolds said, will solidify the Smart & Final identity in existing as well as new markets. "Right now," she explained, "when we go into a new market, we have to market the Smart & Final name and concept and then what we have to do is also market our corporate brands, which had a different name." Rather than spend money on two different marketing plans, she explained, Smart & Final will now combine its marketing dollars to present a single identity.

According to Reynolds, about 10% of Smart & Final's 11,000-stockkeeping unit inventory is composed of private label. In addition to converting its Table Queen price brand and Iris, its national brand-quality label, Smart & Final has started a premium-quality label called Smart & Final Premium.

"The long-range plan is to incorporate all our Smart & Final corporate brands into our food-service distribution companies, and those companies require a premium brand," said Reynolds. Smart & Final, she added, has decided to add the premium label to its retail units as well.

Currently, both the Smart & Final and Iris logos appear on the former Iris-brand packages. The Iris label, Reynolds told SN, will remain on the packages for now because its appearance will make the transition to the Smart & Final brand a little easier for customers.

"It [the Iris label] is over 100 years old, so obviously there's a strong identity in the marketplace," said Reynolds. "We did want to keep that Iris label somewhere, so there would be comfort in the transitional process."

The new Smart Buy and Smart & Final Premium labels, which include the company's founding date (1871) and the likenesses of founders Mr. Smart and Mr. Final, have been designed to incorporate more of the company's heritage, Reynolds added.

Smart & Final has already begun to promote the corporate brand conversion in its stores. Shelf talkers and other identity programs, she said, are being used to communicate the change to customers.

"In November, when almost all our SKUs should be switched, we will have a large advertising and promotional campaign," Reynolds said.