Archive for Dollar General
Dollar General Promotes & Launches Private Brands
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The following excerpt from a field report released this past week by the Instore Marketing Institute on Dollar General details some of the Private Brand activity at the Goodletsville, Tennessee discount retailer.
“The retailer also will launch a True Living home products line and Holiday Style and Perfect Harvest seasonal collections by April.
In other private-label activity, Dollar General is using endcap headers, shelf tags, in-store circulars and online promotion to present a “Switch and Save with Our Brands” message for its packaged goods brands, which include DG Baby (baby care), DG Home (household), Clover Valley (food) and EverPet (pet care).
Read the entire Dollar General Field Report.
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JOB: Private Brand Manager, Dollar General
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BRAND MANAGER – FOOD
Dollar General, Goodletsville, Tennessee
Are you ready for an exciting career move? We’re a $10.5 billion company with more than 8,400 stores in 35 states and growing by hundreds of stores yearly. We work in an energetic team atmosphere, and believe much of the success of our phenomenal growth is our commitment to developing our employees’ potential. We are committed to building our company with upbeat, talented, motivated persons who will move us toward our mission of “Serving Others”.
Dollar General is seeking a Brand Manager - Food to handle the delivery of private brand sales and profit and share goals in assigned categories through the development of new products, growth of existing products, efficient strategic sourcing, consumer marketing programs and effective promotional programs. The Brand Manager - Food will lead a cross-functional team of analysts, sourcing managers, quality assurance and product development to develop and introduce new products, improve existing products and effectively market and promote the brand(s) to consumers.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Deliver Private Brands’ goals in assigned categories: sales, margin contribution and share.
- Work closely with category buyers to develop annual business and promotional plans to meet goals.
- Partner with marketing to create in store marketing programs to support brand growth objectives.
- Develop business reviews (category assessments) to identify private brand opportunities.
- Ensure business plan is executed properly: pricing, distribution, promotion plan, etc.
- Establish recommended pricing (initial and on going) for private brand products.
- Negotiate with key suppliers to create products and marketing programs.
- Manage an analyst (non-DG employee) to provide reporting and insightful analysis of category trends and performance.
- Manage sourcing manager to identify and develop manufacturers along with negotiating supply agreements.
- Manage the timing and coordination of projects.
- Manage marketing and promotion budgets for assigned categories.
- Demonstrated ability to manage brands across multiple categories
- Advanced skills in category analysis, planning, forecasting and budgeting
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- High degree of initiative, along with excellent execution capabilities
- Good interpersonal skills to develop and maintain effective business relationships at all levels of the company and in the supplier community
- Excellent project management, leadership, and supervisory skills
- Syndicated research experience with good understanding of marketing, merchandising, and retail
- Negotiation and conflict resolution skills
Work Experience and/or Education
- Degree in Business, Marketing, Management or related field, MBA preferred.
- Minimum of 7 years experience in brand/category management required.
Compensation will consist of a competitive salary based on your experience, with bonus potential.
Our Benefits Package
- Health, dental, vision and life insurance
- Long term disability
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance
- Company matched 401(k)
- Tuition reimbursement
- Paid vacation
- On site child care, ATM, cafeteria and fitness facility
- Free covered parking
- Fun, values centered work atmosphere
- Corporate casual dress
- Relocation Assistance
Dollar General is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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- Image via Wikipedia
Goodlettsville, Tennesse based Dollar General is preparing to reveal the new face of its Private Brand women’s clothing line Bobbie Brooks, this spring by launching a companywide model search. If Bobbie Brooks sounds vaguely familiar, the brand and the name have been in the American lexicon for more than fifty years. Founded in 1957, Bobbie Brooks pioneered the junior concept and existed as a national brand for many years. In 1988 it became and exclusive brand at Walmart. In 2005 Dollar General announced that they would add it to their stable of Private Brands. Perhaps the most famous reference to the brand was in the 1982 John Mellancamp sng Jack and Diane, “Little ditty about Jack and Diane, two American kids growing up in the heartland…dribble off those Bobbie Brooks, let me do what I please…”
Dollar General will give its employees the opportunity to step into the spotlight and become a model, Dollar General will select 10 employees to represent the brand in its advertising and other promotions.
“Getting our employees involved and energized about our brands is important to Dollar General. Employees are not only ambassadors, but they are also our customers,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General division president and chief merchandising officer. “This is an exciting opportunity for employees to get some hands-on experience wearing the new line of clothes, while having some fun.”
Bobbie Brooks, which features casual, trend-right fashions for women, is one of four apparel Private Brands at Dollar General. Dollar General is launching this spring. Bobbie Brooks Girls, Open Trails Men and Open Trails Boys will also debut on Dollar General’s shelves over the next several weeks.
Dollar General will reveal winners of its Bobbie Brooks model search in late spring.
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Dollar General Features Clover Valley in Weekly Flyer
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This weeks 8 page flyer from from Dollar General features its redesigned Private Brands Clover Valley and DG Baby/Toddler/Home on the top 2/3s of pages four and five. The dollar channel has been the rising star of retail over the last eighteen months and Dollar Generals seems to be aggressively attempting to take share. They have redesigned and relaunched significant portions of their Private Brand portfolio and raised the bar for not only the dollar channel but retail in general. The Clover Valley redesign is one of the better white based designs of the last year so it is good to see it featured in this rather aggressive flyer.
Private Brand Top Ten for 2009
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2009 has come and gone and it was definitely an exciting year for Private Brands. I began this blog in late December of 2008 and it would be hard to imagine a better time to begin writing about Private Brands. Retailers have stepped up and invested in their brands and national manufacturers have responded in a myriad of intriguing ways.
I continue to be surprised by the overwhelming reception this blog has received from the entire Private Brand community. Everyone from retailers to branding agencies; from Private Brand brokers to investment analysts have subscribed and contributed both comments and compliments. So I find myself taking stock of the year’s posts and creating lists it is a common tactic for traditional media they love to present the prior year in a list and I find myself attracted to the idea. The following is a list of posts and topics that according to Google Analytics attracted the most readers.
- Great Value Relaunch – Walmart
Great Value was the subject of the year and more than just one post it is an entire series of more than a dozen posts detailing the radical redesign and the strategic shift that it signaled. The footnote to this is the apparent demise of the Sam’s Choice brand. 
Up & Up Launch – Target
Target made news just after Walmart when it made what was arguably the most significant strategic shift in Private Brand eliminating the iconic Bullseye brand and replacing it with Up & Up.- Target: Restyles Redecorates and Reorganizes
The Room Essentials redesign and relaunch is the unheralded piece of Target’s Private brand strategy, combined with the Up & Up launch it illustrated how a Private Brand portfolio strategy can create a group of brands that builds and reinforces the retailer brand. Essentially the redesign of Room Essentials and the launch of Up & Up allowed Target to use the Bullseye logo on the redesigned Target Home – creating a premium home decor brand that further validated their “Expect More, Pay Less” tagline. - Piggly Wiggly Redesign
This article features the redesign of the Piggly Wiggly house brand. Through the lens of a store walk/shop. Shopping for supplies during a summer vacation my family and I visited a Piggly Wiggly just outside of Charleston, SC. Piggly Wiggly loved the post and has a link to it on the front page of their website. -
Olivia and Sarah pose with Mr Pig
Chief Private Brand Officer, Great Idea or Anomaly?
This features the appointment of the first ever (to my knowledge) Chief Private Brand Officer, Timothy Adams, at Macy’s - The Green Idea Supermarket – PLMA
The PLMA’s 2009 Private Label Trade Show included the Idea Supermarket and this article featured a look at green trends in Private Brand. - Private Brand: Trading Down or Shopping Smarter?
After this guest post Alex Miller, the president of Daymon Worldwide drew a record number of comments on both this blog and numerous LinkedIn groups. - Clover Valley Tastes Better With Great Design – Dollar General.
Dollar General has been a surprising star of this blog; posts on Clover Valley consistently draw a large and interactive readership. The redesign featured in this post is particularly impressive for the dollar channel. - Private Brand: Our Time is NOW!
This post features a urgent and inspiring presentation given at the FMI Private Brands Summit by Andres Siefkin, vice president of marketing and consumer insights at private brand broker Daymon Worldwide. - Private Brand under Sheetz
After a trip to Pennysylvania this post on a store walk of the convenience retail icon Sheetz has consistently drawn readership.
Private Brand White Out!
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the fourth post in a series on trends from the PLMA’s Idea Supermarket at the PLMA’s 2009 Private Label Trade Show. White has been the story of the year in Private Brand and too a lesser extent national brand design and the Idea Supermarket was no different, with white based packaging from around the world. Some is definitely better than others but you be the judge.
TheRedesignedCloverValleyfromDollarGeneral
DG Baby from Dollar General
and of course Great Value from Walmart and Up & Up from Target where represented.
If you enjoyed this post, get FREE updates when you subscribe to Myprivatebrand’s Blog by Email.Clover Valley Tastes Better With Great Design – Dollar General.
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This is the third post in a series on trends from the PLMA’s Idea Supermarket at the PLMA’s 2009 Private Label Trade Show Radical reivention of Private Brands seems to be the theme of the year for 2010 including Walmart’s Great Value redesign, Target abandoning the bullseye on it’s NBE to create it’s new brand UP & UP, and A&P’s Via Roma just to name a few. This post features yet another radical reinvention from a rather unlikely source – Dollar General. They have reworked and redesigned a significant portion of their entire Private Brand portfolio and created elegant and progressive redesigns for their food Private Brand, Clover Valley and reinvented their health and baby brands with DG Baby and DG Health. Like many retailers this year they have taken the clean white route and in their versions of the white trend are among the best, avoiding the clumsy cheapness of many of the other brands in favor of a well proportioned clean design. And check out the redesigned Dollar General website these new designs clearly reinforce the new Dollar General branding.
The Rise of the Dollar Store?
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In an article posted yesterday, Monday, June 29 by Reuters, Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein take a look at the rise of the dollar store in this tough economic environment. Particularly disturbing for traditional grocers is the assertion by customer Juan Bugueno that he “prefers the dollar store for staples like vegetables and eggs.”
The article goes on to quote, Richard Hastings, consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities, who said that a private label strategy has its drawbacks.
“There’s the risk that the shopper could swap over to private label anywhere else … and buy private label at an entirely different company,” he said Dollar stores are happy to be that different company.
Grocers on defensive as dollar stores rise
SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – When it comes to buying food, Juan Bugueno is shopping around and finding bargains in dollar stores, a worrisome trend for supermarkets.
Bugueno, 42, shops the Albertsons, Ralphs and Whole Foods grocery stores in his Venice, California, neighborhood — but prefers the dollar store for staples like vegetables and eggs.
“It’s cheap and it’s good,” said Bugueno, who among other things was buying bagged spinach and garlic at a busy 99 Cents Only Store (NDN.N) instead of at a Whole Foods next door.
In addition to heightened competition from top U.S. food seller Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), grocers must also defend their turf against scrappy dollar stores that are using food to tempt shoppers like Bugueno, amid the recession.
Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N) has added 200 new food products, like Triscuit crackers and Kraft salad dressing, while Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O) is installing freezers and coolers to sell ice cream, sandwich meat and frozen dinners.
If you enjoyed this post, get FREE updates when you subscribe to Myprivatebrand’s Blog by Email.Dollar Stores Reap the Benefits of Private Brand.
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This article published today, Monday, June 08, 2009 in the Texas daily the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal takes a look at dollar stores, Dollar General specifically through the life of one customer.
Generics become popular option
As an out-of-work brick layer, Gilbert Figueroa said he’s having to cut back on his expenses.
Holding sacks of groceries in front of Dollar General at 19th Street and Avenue W, he said he’s been shopping at “dollar stores” more in recent months, trying to save money on food and other groceries he’s found to be “way cheaper.”
Figueroa said he can’t afford to fix his broken-down car – though he is saving money on gas – and appreciates the convenience of walking to the Dollar General a few blocks away from his home.
But he said there is a limit on where he’ll cut back – buying toilet paper.
“When you buy cheap toilet paper, you’re not going to get the same results you’re going to get from a good toilet paper,” he said.
Figueroa is one of the many people in Lubbock and across the country looking to save money during hard times. Some people are buying more generic products, shopping at “dollar stores,” or doing home-improvement projects themselves instead of hiring them out.
He said he knows he’s been directly affected by the national recession that slowly crept into Lubbock.
“Nobody’s buying any houses any more,” he said explaining why brick-laying jobs have been harder for him to find in the city in recent months.
Though Figueroa exaggerated a bit – as home sales are down 16.2 percent, but not out, according to the latest Lubbock Economic Index for April reported May 27 by Lubbock National Bank – he’s still out of work.
Shopping for generic products and discounts from retailers such as “dollar stores” has been increasingly popular in recent months, as indicated by sales reports from discount retailers.
For Dollar General, sales increased 15.7 percent to $2.78 billion in the 2009 first quarter compared to the 2008 first quarter, according to a report released last week by the company. Same-store sales increased 13.3 percent for the quarter.
And Dollar General plans to build about 450 new stores and remodel or relocate another 400 around the country, though Dollar General spokeswoman Tawn Earnest said she did not know the company’s plans for expansion in the South Plains. Through May 1, the chain opened 104 new stores, remodeled or relocated 100 and closed four stores in fiscal 2009.
Other “dollar stores” such as Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are reporting similar increases in sales and plans for expansion this year.
Earnest said Dollar General recently relaunched its store brand, Clover Valley, in response to consumer demand for cheaper groceries at a lower cost than national brands.
Specifically, she said, demand for “consumables” – anything from dish soap to graham crackers – has grown in recent years.
Signs advertise more than 200 new food items offered at the Family Dollar at 34th Street and Avenue S.
Mark Montez, walking from Family Dollar with a bag of groceries, said he occasionally buys a bag of chips or noodles from the store. But he said he prefers to do most of his food shopping at traditional grocery stores such as United Supermarkets.
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This is the final post in a series of three about my visits to a Publix and Dollar General located in Greenville, South Carolina. At the end of my last post I promised you a look at the Private Brand portfolio strategy of both retailers. That is a daunting task and I preface it by saying that my observations are very high level and based on my shopping experience. I like to push a grocery cart around the store and shop, there is no substitute for actually shopping. So, I spent about a half hour in each store, obviously a proper analysis of their Private Brand portfolio strategies would require a extended and very detailed analysis, so on with the show.
Much has been written about Publix Private Brands over the last few years, and they have done a great job of implementing their brand strategy and more importantly their design strategy which is immediately visible in their stores. However setting design aside they are really working from a two tier Private Brand portfolio architecture.
When their natural and organic brand Greenwise is added into the portfolio, it has a remarkable similarity to many other retailers, including both Loblaw’s and Walmart. Publix has a done a great job with their Private Brands I believe their challenge will come as the portfolio ages how will they refresh their brands and bring both design and product innovation to their customers.
Dollar General is also implementing a two-tier portfolio architecture, however their portfolio is much broader with most of the brands living at their mid tier. Those brands include: DG - health and beauty, Everpet – the pet care, Study Time – school and office supplies, DG Home – home decor, Premier International, clothing, DG Value – value and many more. The key difference in their portfolio is their brands shift down the value scale and do no live at the premium level.
It appears that Dollar General’s portfolio is in transition and there may be a overall shift in how Private Brands are positioned and implemented. The redesign of Clover Valley is clearly a watershed moment and may be signaling a reinterpretation of the entire portfolio. They appear to be shifting from an Aldi model of “a house of brands” to something more akin to Targets varied portfolio model. This model creates relevant well-positioned brands where needed and adjusts the portfolio architecture depending on the department within the store. So instead of the rigid portfolio architecture of Publix they are able to adapt to each departments needs without the creating undifferentiated labels. As you look at the pictures there is obviously alot of opportunity for Dollar General to improve their Private Brands.
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