Value products at Carrefour are given a new, more modern, brand identity: ‘Simpl’. Products with the new branding will gradually appear on the shelves.
International initiative
Shoppers in Belgium have noticed that some so-called “white label products” at Carrefour were given a new look and also a new name: Simpl. “That is indeed the new name and look of the lowest priced products at Carrefour”, spokesman Marco Demerling confirmed to RetailDetail. “The new branding is more attractive and looks more modern. The products are gradually replacing the previous product range, so you will see them more and more in our stores.”
The rebranding is very recent and ongoing: the process will certainly take another few months. “The entire product range is currently being reviewed and re-evaluated,” Demerling explains. He is therefore not yet able to say how many Simpl products will eventually be included in the range. This is an international initiative: the new value brand will be introduced in several countries of the Carrefour group.
Long history
Cheap “white label products” – without a brand name – are an invention of the mid-1970s: they were a response to the declining purchasing power during the oil crisis. Between 2009 and 2014, the retailer featured the Carrefour Discount brand, a range of some 350 products that had to compete with the growing hard discounters Aldi and Lidl.
However, Carrefour cancelled that brand again as it had a negative impact on the retailer’s image. Since then, value products without a brand name or logo have been on the shelves, in a very sober white packaging with a blue inscription. The adoption of a name that does not explicitly feature ‘Carrefour’ may be the best of both worlds: a clear identity for lowest-price products, while the Carrefour brand itself is not impacted.
