Own Branding Feature - BMN November 2015

5 REASONS WHY MERCHANTS SHOULD STOCK OWN BRAND FIXINGS

We are all told today that the brand is king. But why would you want to sell someone else’s brand when you can sell your own? Fixings expert Samac specialises in own branding and tells us why own branding is a wise choice for merchants for five great reasons

We are often told by marketeers that the brand is king and, as consumers, many of us have strong and enduring attachments to brands – our beans have to be Heinz and our tea must be Typhoo, or whatever our brand of choice is. But own branding in the consumer sector has enjoyed massive growth since the 2007 crash and it shows no sign of abating – as proved by Tesco putting many top brands on notice in November that it was looking to rationalise the branded lines it stocks by 30%. And last year Sainsburys announced that its own brand goods were growing twice as fast as branded goods in both sales and volume.

Merchants’ customers continue, along with the rest of the population, to spend cautiously as the economy continues to grow at only a modest pace. Many of the national merchants continue to develop their own brand portfolio, especially in the core ranges that every builder uses. Nails, screws and fixings are a perfect example of just such a line. Travis Perkins has, for example, just undertaken a comprehensive review of its own brand products portfolio to refocus its own brand efforts more effectively.

So, what are the top five reasons why merchants consider carrying own branded lines of fixings?

1. Cost: purchasing own label products gives merchants much more control over the product they stock and the cost of it. Without the cost of building a brand and the marketing investment that that entails, it is possible to purchase really top quality products that your customers want to use, at a lower cost.
    
2. Margins: of course it is vital that you know and trust the quality and reliability of the products that you are putting your name to. Once you have established that, you can be confident to pass on some of the cost benefits to your customers while still making an enhanced margin.
    
3. Increased brand awareness: own branding products like nails and fixings increases brand awareness for your own brand. The builder who carries a tub of your own branded nails out of your branch will carry it onto site, encouraging passive marketing. Everywhere your packaging goes, so does your brand’s message. This is a particularly pertinent benefit for nails, screws and fixings since they will hang around on site for several days with your branding right in everyone lines of sight.
    
4. Customer retention and trust: own branded products can strengthen your relationship with your customers. Customers can buy a national brand anywhere, but they can only buy your own brand at your stores. For your customer, own branded products represent choice and the opportunity to regularly purchase quality products at considerable savings compared to buying national brands. Take the same customer using your own branded nails or fixings. When the tub is empty and if the product lived up to expectation, the customer will likely return to your branch to re-purchase this product. Once at your trade counter, he is much more likely to buy other products and it also increases the possibility of cross selling to other products from the same brand family.

5. Innovation: own branded products aren’t poor quality. In fact, in consumer retailing Europe wide, 78% of consumers agree that own brands are a good alternative to named brands so acceptance and understanding of  own branding is clearly high.  In fact own branding allows merchants to offer something unique to dif­ferentiate them from their competitors and allows them to respond quickly to new products, trends and legislation without having to invest vast sums themselves.

At Samac we are the UK’s leading own branding specialists for nails, screws and fixings. We have a full-time team dedicated to printing, packing and labelling our wide range of pre-packed nails, screws and fixings, in everything from small 50g bags to 10kg tubs. This makes it easy for merchants to offer a lower cost, higher margin alternative to their branded fixings lines.

The bottom line is that carrying a range of own branded fixings will not only increase sales and improve your margin; it will build your own brand and help develop lasting relationships with satisfied customers.

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