What's in a name...?
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Sainsbury's has announced they are pooling their value brands into one new label "Stamford Street".
Sainsbury's operates a good, better best range policy where Taste the Difference and Branded products sit at the top of the range, followed by the Sainsbury's own label products as premium private label and finally a basic no frills value range as the lower end cheaper offer, but still of good quality.
This value range used to be simply named "Basics" and was often little different to the supermarket label range in quality. However, the Basics branding was felt to be negative, implying customers buying these products were less well off. When Tesco introduced their "farm brands", Sainsbury's also went through the process of rebranding the basics range into Sainsbury referenced or simplistic names like J. James, Mary Ann. House 24/7, Hubbard and Stamford Street.
I personally felt this was confusing for customers. As a customer myself, I knew what Basics were. I could make my choice if I wished to buy it or not. When these new names came in, overnight I lost all perception of which were the value lines. All that was left was a sea of branded names and Sainsbury's own label. There was no consistency across the store either as each brand was used in different parts of the store, where basics was the cheap no frills item in every range from bread to pet food to bleach.
These strange names were pretty indistinguishable from other branded products and there was no obvious indication they were cheaper. I also thought it a sign of corporate arrogance to expect that I as a customer might know who these people J James and Mary Ann were, (the founders of Sainsbury's )
Whilst it is good to see all these lines amalgamated under one brand again, it still seems you have to go through mental gymnastics to associate Stamford Street as the value brand.
Stamford Street was the first Sainsbury's head office and depot, where Sainsbury's is more famously known for opening its first shop in Drury Lane in London in 1869.
From Linked In:
"Great value has a new address - Stamford Street!
We’re proud to announce the consolidation of all our own-label value ranges into a single brand. As the cost of living rises, our aim is to help our customers more easily find everyday staples at budget-friendly prices. Offering a range of over 200 products, Stamford Street is another example of our commitment to helping our customers manage their budgets.