If you were a manager at The Kroger Co., what strategies would you use to encourage consumers to buy private labels in more product categories? In what product categories do you see opportunities for private labels?

The most recent recession is encouraging consumers to focus more on price in their decision making.
One major consequence of this price focus is an increase in the market share of private labels at the expense of name brands.18 The same thing happened in the U.K. and Canada in the 1970s. Tom Falk, CEO of Kimberly-Clark, says, “One thing you don’t want to do is create a consumer who shifted to private label and then have to spend a lot to get them back.” A. G. Lafley, CEO of Procter &
Gamble, says, “Of course there’s a shift to private label at this point, but it’s not nicking us.” In the past, P&G has fought against private labels by increasing promotions advertising, but in the current recession, consumers are buying private labels in categories that have been resistant to them in the past, such as feminine protection and skin care products.
Furthermore, even relatively wealthier households with annual incomes greater than $100,000 have spent more on private labels. Across package-goods categories and retailers, private-label market share increased by 0.8 percent to 21.9 percent in 2008.
This trend is likely to continue until the economy improves significantly.