Albertsons spotlights customer-favorite own-brand products

Albertsons Cos. has unveiled the winners of its first Fresh Picks Exclusive Product Awards, in which customers of the grocery retailer’s supermarket banners voted for their favorite own-brand products.

The combination of Signature Select Ice Cream and Signature Select Store Baked Cookies ended up as the top vote-getter, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons said Monday. Announced in October, the Fresh Picks awards program asked shoppers to pick their store-brand favorites from top-rated/reviewed items and top sellers in seven categories — Treat Yourself Combo, Go-To Easy Meal, Good For You Favorite, Grab-And-Go, Kid Favorites, Breakfast Nosh and Adult Beverage — across the company’s stores. Customers also were able to track product vote counts via social media.

Winning products in each category, as well as the overall favorite, will bear the Fresh Picks Product Award winner’s seal. Albertsons Cos. said its stores will roll out exclusive deals, loyalty offers and recipe content for the winning products during January.

For the Fresh Picks awards, customers voted for their favorite Albertsons Cos. private-brand products across seven grocery categories.

By category, the inaugural Fresh Picks Product Award winners— based on more than 150,000 customer votes — were the following: 

Treat Yourself Combo — Signature Select Ice Cream and Signature Select Store Baked Cookies (Runner-up: Signature Select Cheesecake and It’s a HeadSnapper Wine Prosecco)

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Go-To Easy Meal — Signature Select Pasta with Signature Select Pasta Sauce (Runner-up: Signature Cafe Deli Rotisserie Chicken)

Good For You Favorite — O Organics Salads and O Organics Veggies (Runner-up: Open Nature Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust Pizza)

Grab-And-Go: O Organics Popcorn (Runner-up: Open Nature Cheese Crisps)

Kid Favorites: Signature Select Mac & Cheese (Runner-up: Lucerne Family Size Cheeses)

Breakfast Nosh: Signature Select Bacon (Runner-up: O Organics Cage Free Eggs)

Adult Beverage: Signature Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Runner-up: O Organics Coffee)

“As more meals are eaten at home, we’re always looking for ways to inspire our loyal shoppers,” Katie Ceclan, vice president of brand marketing at Albertsons Cos., said in a statement. “From quick-and-easy dinners to go-to snacks, the Fresh Picks awards are an exciting way to celebrate our fan-favorite own-brands products and provide inspiration in the kitchen.”

Albertsons finished fiscal 2020 with more than 12,000 own-brand products after adding over 1,200 items, with the portfolio generating dollar sales of over $14 billion. Through the fiscal 2021 second quarter ended Sept. 11, the company had rolled out more than 400 new private-brand SKUs of a planned 800-plus new items for the full year.

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The supermarket giant’s 12 own brands are led by the Signature product family — including the Signature Select, Signature Reserve, Signature Farms, Signature Cafe and Signature Care — as well as O Organics, Open Nature and Lucerne. Of those labels, four are billion-dollar brands: Lucerne, O Organics, Signature Select and Signature Cafe, with Open Nature expected to join that club. The own-brand portfolio also includes Waterfront Bistro, Primo Taglio, Debi Lilly Design and Value Corner.

Overall, Albertsons Cos. operates 2,278 food and drug stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under more than 20 retail banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market.