• Homebrand products will be repackaged and sold under the Essentials brand category by category.
    Homebrand products will be repackaged and sold under the Essentials brand category by category.
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Woolworths is reportedly renaming more than 900 Homebrand products "Essentials" to counter customer perceptions about its quality.

The Homebrand range has annual sales of about $1.4 billion and more than 950 product lines, but consumers perceive the quality of Homebrand products to be inferior to that at other chains such as Coles and Aldi, according to Fairfax Media.

Woolworths' chief executive Brad Banducci reportedly said last year that the Homebrand logo had a "perception problem".

"The issue we've got with Aldi is providing the same value experience in our store as you would in an Aldi, which requires us to rethink and re-engineer some of our entry-level products," Banducci said at the time.

Homebrand's prices are generally as cheap or cheaper than similar entry-level private label goods at Aldi and Coles, so the main consumer perception issue revolves around the product branding and packaging, according to experts.

Category by category, Homebrand products will be repackaged and sold under the Essentials brand, starting with honey.

Packaging News

Costa Group has partnered with Coles and Opal in a large-scale trial to replace rPET plastic punnets with recyclable cardboard packaging for Perino tomatoes, now available across Coles’ Victorian stores.

Rawson Print & Packaging has strengthened its position in the Australian commercial print sector with the acquisition of Sydney-based print operation IntoPrint.

Woolworths has shifted its Own Brand sliced bread packaging to LDPE bags made by Amcor with 30 per cent recycled plastic, a move the retailer says will save about 50,000 kilograms of virgin plastic annually.