Target Abandons Bullseye for Up & Up

In a surprising turn of events that was foreshadowed by my earlier post “UP & UP with Target!”.  The questions I asked in that post are answered:

Is this the Archer Farms of dry goods, of HBC, of paper products?

Or something uniquely different, the elaborate Target Private Brand portfolio strategy seems to be always in flux, so the true gauge of the evolving strategy will be shelf space and marketing dollars. Stay Tuned.

Target has decided to abandon its familiar Target Private Brand in favor the “up & up” brand.

According to the Reuters article, “Target ditches bull’s-eye for “up and up” arrow” published Tuesday, May 19, 2009. The brand will include sunscreen, tissues, trash bags, diapers and much of the line from the former Bullseye marked brand. The brand will feature a big, colorful arrow on a white background that says “up & up” — the brand’s new name.

According to the article: “We believe that it will stand out on the shelf, and it is so distinctive that we’ll get new guests that will want to try it that maybe didn’t even notice the Target brand before,” said Kathee Tesija, executive vice president of merchandising for Target, in an interview.

This is a dramatic shift in Private Brand strategy for Target, as the Target Brand is among the top five largest Private Brands at Target and has been “growing at a 25 percent compound annual growth rate for the past five years.” New products began hitting stores in March the brand will include more than 40 product categories. This will likely lead to increased shelf space for the new brand with approximately 800 items by the end of the year.

The article goes on to say that Target will promote the brand, which tends to be priced about 30 percent less than brand-name equivalent products, in its weekly advertising circulars, online and in its stores.

Target will continue to sell national brands: “That’s what we do and most of what we sell,” Tesija said. But name-brand items that are not the No. 1 or No. 2 product in their category could be replaced by an up & up item, she said. This statement should not be surprising for customers of national brands as it echoes similar statements, from Ahold, Supervalu and Delhaize.

Earlier this evening the prior “up & up” post received the following comment from a “Target Team Member”:

I work for Target as a sales floor team member, and I am happy to hear you’ve discovered our up & up brand. up & up is the new look we’ve given to our target brand products. Previously where you would have found bottles with similar packaging and coloring to that of their brand-name competitors, up & up products will feature witty designs and will slowly transition in as our store’s leading self-owned brand. Other products that you may see flying up on our shelves include our Target home brand, now named reDesign. reDesign is marked by its innovative turquoise packaging. Archer Farms is still our self-owned consumables brand, and TruTech is our self-owned brand for electronics. Be sure to stop into your local Target store to pickup these great finds!

An obvious advertisement that confirms not only the “up & up” development but the evolving Private Brand Strategy. As well as the idea that Target is systematically moving away from the use of the Target brand on their private label products.

More to come…

Other Target Private Label posts from My private brand:

UP & UP with Target!
Target Abandons Bullseye for Up & Up
Target – Up & Up, the Next Chapter
Target: reStyles, reDecorates & reOrganizes.

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