A dispute between Shoprite Holdings, owner of Checkers, and rival retailer Pick n Pay over packaging colours could head for the courts unless it is resolved soon.
Shoprite has objected to the colour of Pick n Pay’s The Crafted Collection, saying it is too similar to its own Forage & Feast brand. Both products have deep navy-blue packaging. Pick n Pay has its logo on the products, Checkers does not.
The FM understands that Pick n Pay asked for an extension of a process to resolve the dispute. Checkers agreed to a deadline of August 24 before asking a court to decide.
Shoprite declined to comment. Pick n Pay says there is no basis for the allegations by Checkers. “These products will never be on the shelf together with those of another supermarket, so there is no chance of any customer confusion,” Pick n Pay says.
The Crafted Collection is a new range under Pick n Pay’s “private label” that was introduced in 1976 with its “no name” range. “Our previous premium range Finest included gold print with a black background,” says Pick n Pay. “In keeping with the latest global premium packaging trends, we introduced blue as many international retailers have done.” It says blue is “strongly associated with the Pick n Pay brand”.
Pick n Pay recently announced a tiered approach to its various customer markets. This week the retailer announced the name of its “Project Red” supermarkets: Pick n Pay QualiSave, serving lower- to middle-income customers with an emphasis on essential food and groceries.
Pick n Pay’s private label range now accounts for 25% of its sales, up from 18% five years ago. The Crafted Collection by Pick n Pay was launched last month and it plans to stock this at revamped stores that serve middle- to top-end customers. The range includes infused olive oil, vinegars, preserves and snacks.
For the past few years Checkers has been making inroads into the upper end of the market — traditionally Woolworths’ turf — and Forage & Feast has been part of it. It launched Forage & Feast in November 2020 in association with Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, one of the first SA chefs to obtain a Michelin star. Forage & Feast now includes 216 products across 34 categories. Over the next 12 months 100 new products will be added.
Pick n Pay is in the midst of an overhaul of its positioning and is splitting its brand across two markets. The Pick n Pay brand will shift to more of a premium position, while “Project Red” will aim at the middle market. This forms part of Pick n Pay’s Ekuseni project in which it aims to achieve an increase of 3% in market share, to grow online sales, to deliver R3bn in savings and to double Boxer store sales by the end of the 2026 financial year. Boxer stores, which target lower-income customers, operate across SA and in Eswatini.
The Crafted Collection by PnP has about 70 products and another 100 are expected by the end of the year. For now, the range focuses on food and groceries, but will extend to other categories, it says. According to Pick n Pay, 90% of the range will be locally produced.
An article in the June edition of Forbes magazine says about 87% of consumers are opting for private-label items or shopping at various stores to save money. “These proprietary brands form the core of food retailer pricing and assortment strategy, and based on current inflationary trends are getting ever more popular.”
One commentator says it’s difficult to prove that Pick n Pay and Checkers customers are confused over the similar colours, but that it’s an international trend to use the deep blue: “Blue is the new black.” Another retail expert says the two main colours in retail are red and blue.
Pick n Pay introduced its private label in 1976 with the “no name” range, offering cheaper prices. Where it started with 14 “no name” products, its private label now has more than 4,800 products.
Pick n Pay CEO Pieter Boone says it’s been a year of hard work in trying to understand what customers want, how they behave “and how to serve our customer in a better, more efficient way with a new refined customer proposition”.
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