Seat 6D

I live in Minnesota. For me, Target is a hometown brand that I’ve been familiar with forever. The bull’s eye is what I look for. Reuter’s however, has just reported that Target Corp. is revamping its private label brand, eliminating the red bull’s eye with a colorful arrow that says “up & up,” the brand’s new name, Reuter’s reports.

“We believe that it will stand out on the shelf, and it is so distinctive that we’ll get new guests that will want to try it that maybe didn’t even notice the Target brand before,” said Kathee Tesija, executive vice president of merchandising for Target.

The report continued to discuss a recent study commissioned by the Private Label Manufacturers Association noted that three out of 10 consumers said that they are “buying more brand products” compared to a year ago. Earlier this year, Walmart relaunched its Great Value private brand with new packaging.

Up and up has been more than a year in the making, and renamed products began reaching Target stores in March. The line will be rolled out across 40 product categories now through early fall and will include nearly 800 products by year’s end.

Obviously merchants have to continue to reinvent themselves. In this case, it appears that the change is to their private label brand only, and no to the stores themselves. Is this a good or bad idea? Let me know on twitter (@denrael).