Dive Brief:
- Kroger announced Monday the addition of several “exciting, trendy items” to its private brands assortment.
- The new items include instant mushroom tea, restaurant-style Italian dressing and kettle-style tortilla chips in a Hatch chile flavor.
- Kroger noted it is on track to launch more than 900 new items in 2025.
Dive Insight:
The additions come as other grocers also look to highlight their store brands through flavor innovation and limited-time offerings in a bid to appeal to consumers who continue to worry about grocery prices.
Kroger said that its new “unique” private brand items tie into the quality and affordability of the grocer’s store brand offerings. The products also build on Kroger’s efforts to expand its private brand assortment, which it sees as a key differentiating factor for customers.
“[T]hey offer great flavors at a price point that fits any budget,” Mike Murphy, Kroger's group vice president of center store merchandising, said in a statement about the new products.
The new items include six Private Selection salad kits with options like cheddar truffle, blueberry, cheddar bacon poblano, sweet onion Gruyere, cherry bacon cheddar and Asian sesame ginger. Private Selection also has new muffins in four flavors: banana bread, blueberry lemon, coffee cake and triple chocolate.
Under the Kroger brand, the grocer introduced kettle-style cooked tortilla chips in traditional and Hatch chile varieties and restaurant-style Italian dressing, according to the press release.
Following positive feedback from the launch of Simple Truth Organic mushroom instant coffee, Kroger has added two instant mushroom tea blends — black and chai — under that private brand, highlighting mushrooms’ “adaptogenic properties and potential to support wellness.”
During its fourth-quarter earnings call, Kroger executives noted that its private brands portfolio is a “margin enhancer” for the grocer and saw a “strong” quarter with sales outpacing those of national brands, led by growth in Private Selection, Kroger’s most premium brand.
“Our Brands is an important differentiator for our business, providing Kroger the ability to offer unique and high-quality products at an exceptional value,” interim CFO Todd Foley told investors. “We expanded our multiyear Our Brand product portfolio in 2024, resulting in more than 90% of customer households purchasing Our Brands items last year.”
Kroger’s goal to add more than 900 new items in 2025 is on par with its store brand growth last year, which included 370 items in fresh categories. Foley noted that Kroger’s proprietary customer insights have fueled its private brand innovation and launches.
Last year, Kroger launched a private label produce line called Field & Vine and revamped its pet brand Abound with redesigned packaging and more products.
“We look to create destination items that can only be found at Kroger, differentiating ourselves from competitors and national brands,” Foley said during the latest earnings call.
