PLs, collaboration beyond THE PRODUCT

Maria Teresa Manuelli Editorial director

This issue of PLM is dedicated to all the excellent collaborations established over the years between brands and important players working in the food and non-food industry, standing out for their innovation and service provided. This was not only to improve the quality of products and supplies, but also to promote development and progress. The campaigns carried out by Coop Italia to close the gender gap and support Iranian women, Carrefour’s campaign promoting local products, food education and food waste elimination, and VéGé’s support for sport associations, are just a few examples of different initiatives that share one common ambition: making the environment and society brands work in a better place. However, today, PL goes even beyond simple campaigns and mere consumer’s education/awareness, offering its own practical solutions to the lack of welfare and services, which range from opening health centers in supermarkets, to establishing agreements with insurance and oil companies. If we look at other countries, where the evolution of PLs started before, the advanced stages of such a phenomenon, towards which also our brands are going, are clearly visible. For instance, Tesco - the first British distribution center since 1929 - in 1974, in collaboration with Esso, started distributing its own PL fuel. Not to mention that, since 1997, thanks to a joint-venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, it has been providing a wide range of financial services that go from traditional bank services (bank account, credit cards, loans, mortgages, prepaid cards), to insurance options (house, car, travel). In addition to that, in 2003 Tesco decided to extend its PL to telephony (landline, mobile phone, Internet connection) and health on various fronts, like ‘Pharmacy’, which includes, ‘Repeat Prescription Collection’ and ‘Health Check’ services, and ‘Tesco Diets’. Therefore, the direction to take by shifting from the conventional commodity sectors of commercial distribution is almost limitless, and private label is now not only a distributor’s development strategy, but also a quite convenient means for consumers.