The AWG Brands portfolio has more than 4,200 items, with new products launching monthly and continuous analysis to provide optimal assortments across the store. Through meticulous category reviews, teams identify opportunities for adapting sizes, flavors, or formulas to meet driving demands or rationalizing low performers. These reviews often support full category assortment overhauls that deliver additional selling opportunities, cost of goods savings, or supply improvements for the benefit of AWG member retailers. Building category strategy and bringing it to life in-store takes about ten months, and involves strategic alignment, sourcing evaluation, packaging development, and production.
Strategic Assortment Reviews:
Category reviews are often the starting point for assortment changes. AWG’s trusted Daymon partners conduct a deep dive into the category and present this information to the
Category Management and AWG Brands teams. The analysis includes an extensive review of national and AWG category outlooks, category insights and trends, current AWG Brands
strategy, competitive analysis, item opportunities, and more.
Strategic Alignment:
With the deep dive analysis as a guide, category experts and the AWG Brands team then review the current and competitive assortments to develop the category strategy. This includes developing new items when relevant, identifying voids in the category,
rationalizing underperforming SKUs, or changing vendor partners.
Vendor Partner Collaboration:
After the strategy is well defined, AWG Brands’ sourcing managers work with existing or potential vendor partners to activate the strategy. This includes a cost-of-goods evaluation and quality and service level improvement identification. Sourcing managers may also conduct Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to identify the best vendor partner to team up with to bring the strategy to life.
Trial & Quality Assurance:
All items are tested and reviewed internally using industry expertise to evaluate consumer experience and product quality. Additionally, our trusted Daymon partners conduct quality assurance testing for product matching, formula development or refinement, and consumer attributes. Products are not approved to move forward until it has passed all testing to ensure the AWG Brands 100% customer satisfaction guarantee for all brands in the portfolio.
Packaging Design:
Award-winning packaging design helps draw consumers’ attention to the items and provides a consistent look and feel across categories. Standardized processes for the design and vendor teams ensure packaging follows brand standards as well as ensuring packaging contains accurate product information. The design process also verifies AWG Brands’ packaging meets regulatory requirements.
Production to On-Shelf:
After months of review, testing, and packaging creation, vendor partners begin production. New products and overhaul launches are accompanied by product information for member
retailers. This information helps educate everyone about the products, their benefits, and any promotional deals tied to the items. The educated AWG Brands’ sales team helps drive home the importance of carrying these products in member retailers’ stores and getting products on shelves. Many new items or overhauls launch along with a Category Initiative
or Review. These Category Initiatives and Reviews are an additional 20+ weeks of full category analysis resulting in gold standard planograms and the opportunity for AWG member retailers to have the planogram set in their stores by AWG merchandising partners.
New Best-in-class AWG Brands Assortments
Salty Snacks:
76% of consumers eat salty snacks weekly and 55.4% of consumers eat private brands salty snacks, as consumers are more inclined to switch to private brands as prices continue to rise. To meet brand standards, brand changes from Always Save to Best Choice on most items will provide AWG member retailers with the quality, sizes, and prices to compete with national brand offerings. Movement into the Best Choice brand will also increase promotional opportunities, especially during the key summer selling seasons.
Bacon:
Private brands represent the number one brand in the bacon category and 51% of consumers buy private brand bacon. AWG Brands introduced the refreshed Best Choice from the Farm branding to distinguish items within the fresh departments. Best Choice is also bringing to market a new larger pack size and shipper option to the mix while reducing pack size on existing items.
Vitamins:
Private brand vitamins are the number one brand nationally in dollar and unit shares. The Best Choice vitamins portfolio will increase from 56 to 80+ SKUs this year and feature brand new gummy vitamins, which are growing in popularity among shoppers. The new vitamin assortment will also capitalize on growing trends such as melatonin, chewables, and multivitamins.
