UNITEDDSN.COM

WHYPRIVATE LABELPACKSA BIGGER PUNCH

Right now, U.S Retail is a tough place to be. Really tough!

If it wasn’t for the fact that (deep down) you knew our best known retailers were just in the game to meet the U.S’ appe-

tite for fashion, sports, technology etc. you would be forgiven for thinking that we were witnessing some kind of twisted

‘no-holds-barred’ UFC tournament, right here on the high street.

And there’s no honor, no collegiate spirit and absolutely no sporting goodwill between these fighters. 

You only have to look at the way that the '400b Gorilla’ that is eBay, or his equally angry sibling Amazon are busy carv-

ing up online retail for themselves (having led the charge in the e-tail revolution) to see how challenging the business of

retail has become.

Then of course, there’s the current Title Belt holders, the established brands who took the initiative early and invested

heavily in developing and delivering their own unique, more compelling, desirable branded experiences.

Cabela’s and BassPro have made a real impact by paying close attention to customer needs, in-store branding and ‘ex-

periential’ design. Apple, The North Face, Puma and Burton Snowboards have each, long understood the benefits to

providing an exciting, enriching retail environment for the consumer to get ‘lost’ within.

Even Best Buy is successfully championing new in-store destinations like the Intel ‘Experience Zone’, Windows store and

Apple ‘stores-within-a-store’ concepts across their vast technology sites now.

More and more fashion/sports/outdoor and technology brands (who we could historically purchase in any number of

outlets) are choosing to take control of their own destiny by quite literally ‘setting up shop’ in order to deliver their own,

unique, memorable in-store experience… and it makes sense!

How else are you going to retain complete control over your brand story, your retail presence and establish a strong link

to your customers before, during and after they make a purchase without having direct control over every single

touch-point?

So, what to do? How can the long-established ‘dusty’ sports generalist, the overlooked out-of-town big box or the

family owned retail multiple survive through to the final round?

Step into the ring…. Private Label!

OK, I can see you all rolling your eye’s…. but please, read on… this may require you to stop for a moment and ‘re-wire’

your thinking, but the pay-o� can be fantastic!

You see, all too often (despite many years of trading and a deep understanding of the retail landscape) retailers will de-

fault to promoting private label as the ‘national brand equivalent’ or simply as a more a�ordable but lower quality alter-

native to the national brands.

You’re not going to win any fights with that attitude! 

Stop viewing your private label opportunities as nothing more than a secondary or tertiary brand exercise. Your suppli-

ers product is truly ubiquitous, the very same SKU’s are likely available in half a dozen places nearby. How then can you

curate your product o�er to be truly unique, compelling and exciting?

Think of private label as an opportunity to bring everything you have learned into one place, and imagine for a second

the commercial implications: The vastly increased margin opportunity, direct control of products, pricing… hell, even the

look, feel and desirability of your own brand would be completely under your control. Make your private label desirable,

make it aspirational!

It is absolutely vital that you bring your private label brand ‘front and center’ and that you work with your merchandising

teams to bring your brand to life. It should be the first thing that customers see as they walk in your stores. It should set

the tone for the rest of the shopping experience and become the main reason for that store visit, keeping customers en-

gaged, interested and crucially keeping them in-store for longer, improving your metrics and uplifting your $ return per

square foot.

So, where do you start?

Firstly put aside your day-to-day management responsibilities helping run the business for a moment, and ponder the

basics…

Who are you?

What do you stand for?

What does your retail experience look like?

How does your brand permeate the business?

Who’s your core customer?

What’s going to keep them coming back?

Why you, and not the other guy?

Once you have satisfactorily answered each of the above you are in a position to put down the first markers toward de-

veloping a solid private brand o�er. 

Yes, it will take time, and considerable investment to bring a unique and e�ective private brand o�er to life. There will

be successes (and failures), memorable brands and overlooked challengers alike, but can you really a�ord not to ex-

plore the idea of forging your own unique destiny, over supporting the continued success of others while they work to

build their empires right behind your back?

With a bit of intelligent brand planning and some good strategic support you could achieve all of this, quicker than

a Ronda Rousey TKO!

WE LIVE IN A TIME OF OMNI-CHANNEL MARKETING, VLOGGERS, BLOGGERS,TWEETERS AND THE ‘ENTERTAINMENT ECONOMY’.NOW, MORE THAN EVER CONSUMERS ARE DEMANDING BRANDS WORKMUCH HARDER FOR THEIR ATTENTION, NOWHERE MORE SO THAN ONTHE HIGH STREET AND IN THE MALL.

THAT MADE UNITED THINK...