Walmart is overhauling packaging for 10,000 Great Value products
Walmart is refreshing the packaging of over 10,000 Great Value private label products for the first time in over a decade, making them more colorful and easier to read. The Great Value brand is Walmart's most successful private label and the most popular private brand in the country, with nearly 90% household penetration. The overhaul is a competitive move in the growing private label market, which has been driven by both the pandemic and inflation.
Summary
Walmart is undertaking a major packaging overhaul of its Great Value private label brand, which it originally launched in 1993. This is the first significant refresh in over a decade and will affect approximately 10,000 products. Importantly, the products themselves and their prices will remain unchanged — only the visual packaging is being updated to appear more colorful, crisper, and easier to read on shelves.
The timing of the overhaul may seem counterintuitive given that Great Value is already Walmart's most successful private brand and the most popular private label brand in the entire country. The brand boasts close to 90% household penetration, meaning the vast majority of U.S. households have purchased at least one Great Value item in the past year.
Private label brands broadly have seen significant growth in recent years, driven first by pandemic-era supply constraints that made national brands harder to find, and more recently by inflation pushing consumers toward more affordable alternatives. According to a NielsenIQ expert cited in the report, private label products have also evolved in their flavor variety and packaging aesthetics — moving away from copycat designs of national brands toward more distinctive shapes, textures, and shelf presence.
Despite Great Value's dominance, Walmart is making this change as an offensive strategic move, recognizing that retail competitors are also investing heavily in their private label offerings. The refresh signals that Walmart intends to remain competitive in the increasingly contested private label market.
Key Insights
- Great Value has close to 90% household penetration in the U.S., meaning most households have purchased at least one Great Value item over the past year, making it the most popular private brand in the country.
- Walmart's overhaul changes only the visual packaging of Great Value products — the products themselves and their prices remain unchanged, with the new look described as more colorful, crisper, and easier to read.
- Private label growth has been fueled by two distinct waves: first by the pandemic when national brands were harder to obtain, and more recently by inflation driving consumers toward cheaper alternatives.
- A NielsenIQ expert argues that modern private label packaging is no longer a copycat of national brands, but instead features distinctive shapes, textures, and elevated designs that stand out on shelves.
- Despite Great Value already being Walmart's largest and most successful private brand, Walmart is making this refresh as an offensive competitive play after looking at what retail peers are doing in the private label space.
Topics
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