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It’s no longer enough to be fast. Now, to compete, instant-delivery companies are getting in on the private-label gold rush.
Enter: Gopuff’s new Basically line, which rolled out last week with bottled water. Snacks and home essentials are on the way, too.
- According to the company, almost 80% of its customers said that they already purchase private-label products (at least occasionally).
Data rules everything: Gopuff is counting on insight (cough, data) into customer habits to set it apart. Operating in the instant-needs space provides knowledge about shoppers that other, more traditional retailers might not have, like what kind of chips they want at 2am, or how often they run out of paper towels.
“We’ve got deep insights and information that we can leverage to really deliver something…really tailored to them. We want our consumer to feel like, ‘They get me, they know me, they know what I want,’” Jessica Glendenning, Gopuff’s general manager of new verticals and private label, told Retail Brew.
But the company didn’t just use data to inform its basic product selection; it also crunched the numbers to help pick specific flavors and package sizes that make sense for the instant consumer.
- After learning that Gopuff customers like bold flavors, the team developed a variety of spiced nuts, including packs of cheddar-jalapeño peanuts.
Looking ahead...Gopuff plans to introduce four new private-label brands and 100+ products this year. But it’s joining a host of other companies already on the trend. Last week, Buyk announced plans to expand its private-label line, following similar moves from FastAF and Gorillas in Europe.
“Private label is a business that is booming, and has been for multiple years. There are so many benefits to this type of business for an organization, and certainly one is gross margin expansion and profitability for the company,” Glendenning said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the consumer and this ability to be able to create products and brands that are very, very specific and tailored to the consumer that you serve.”—JG