Supermarket Brands Are In Real Trouble |
What makes Wegmans so formidable? They learned their brand lessons well and are playing brand hardball. Borrowing on the specialty marketers like Whole Foods, Fresh Market and Bread & Circus, and the upscale brands of Four Seasons and Ritz Carleton, they recognized that brands that differentiated the customer enabled these brands to become destinations. They became a magnet for those seeking specialness, specialty, high quality foods, and experience - within a geographic area. When the shopper believed they were a more discriminating shopper (what we call a Brandface), these shoppers were willing to inconvenience themselves by traveling a greater distance to satiate that self-identifying need. They would also be willing to pay higher costs for that same self-identification.
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