“Retailer brands often copy established brands’ features to signal a quality image to shoppers,” said Dr Melisa Mete, lecturer in marketing at Henley Business School.
Last month, Waitrose questioned whether Asda had copied the name of its Essential Waitrose range when Asda announced the launch of its new Just Essentials value range.
Asda’s collection is now the largest value range in the UK grocery market, with a £45 million investment from the supermarket aiming to help ‘keep households running on a budget’.
According to The Guardian, Waitrose, which has sold Essential Waitrose brand products for 13 years, has sent a legal letter to Asda disputing the name.
“We were surprised to hear that Asda is launching an essentials range as the Essential Waitrose brand has been in use since 2009 and has built up a strong reputation for value, quality and higher welfare standards in that time,” said a spokesperson for Waitrose, part of the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership.
“As we’ve also protected the name as a trade mark, we have raised this with Asda and are awaiting a response.”
An Asda spokesperson told The Guardian in response: “The word ‘essentials’ is a generic and commonly used term by retailers to describe their value product ranges.”
Dr Melisa Mete, lecturer in marketing at Henley Business School, shares her take on the supermarkets’ branding battle.
What’s in a name?
“Asda has announced that it is changing the name of its value range from Smart Price to Just Essentials – a name some have deemed precariously close to Waitrose’s value range: Essentials.
“Asda says its new range will be aimed at consumers who are interested in “healthy and nutritious food with lowest prices and larger and more diverse range of great value products”. At the same time, the Waitrose range has “built up a strong reputation for value, quality and higher welfare standards”.
“Retailers often choose to copy the presentation of established brands, such as similar packaging shape and colouring, design elements and names so their brand can piggyback off the image of the established brand.
“Consumers spend a relatively short time grocery shopping, and they rely on external or superficial cues to help them make their decisions about what to buy. Retailer brands often copy established brands’ features to signal a “quality” image to shoppers.
“Within the retailing world, this is not a new practice. Take the example of Aldi and Lidl. The Marks & Spencer’s Colin the caterpillar vs. Aldi’s Cuthbert the caterpillar made headlines, as did the Sarson’s Malt Vinegar vs. Lidl’s Samson Malt Vinegar. Similarly, though Asda already positions itself for the budget shopper, it might aim to establish ‘an image for quality’ via using a similar product range name, such as Waitrose’s established range name Essentials.
“But is this practice effectively stealing a brand identity? Some shoppers might look down on the imitator as a copycat, particularly if the copied body convinces the public and takes legal action where possible. Sometimes, though, consumers might also find the retailers who ‘copy’ as acting in the interests of the shopper.
“Another issue here is the moral one: shoppers may question the values of the retailer due to these misrepresentations. They might perceive this as unethical and inauthentic. There are clearly financial benefits to the customers, but particularly younger generations, such as Millennials and Gen Z, are quite sensitive to these issues.
“Millennial and Gen Z consumers expect transparency, authenticity, and honesty from brands. These younger shoppers make up more of the population than the two prior generations combined. They are much more driven by the customised customer service and communications, compared with the approach Asda has adopted in this latest incident.
“But perhaps not all is lost: Asda can learn from Aldi with its well-executed social media marketing which engages not only its consumers, but also the general public, leading to not only a fun brand but also a well-known brand image of high quality with low prices.”
READ MORE: Top 10 most complained-about TV ads in the UK
Conclusion
It is also possible that Asda may be adopting the ‘all PR is good PR’ approach, as the news of the launch has received a significant amount of traction.
Emulating the look of competing brands is a marketing method that some companies use to attract customers and maximise sales – imitating competitors rather than creating new content can be the safer option as originality becomes increasingly risky in a market so crowded with choice.
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