Manufacturers investing in own brands

The Christmas pudding of own brand can upset the major manufacturers this year. But can also be a solution in the face of increasing costs, say industry professionals.
"The competition this year will be more fierce and the brand grows further, benefited by the crisis. As the company that produces no disclosure costs, you can save and revert it to the product, "says the President of the Brazilian Association of own brands and outsourcing (Abmapro), Neide Montesano.
She explains that, although the Christmas pudding of own brand be on average 15% to 20% cheaper, the final price is not one of the main attractions for companies. "The cost of production is also an advantage for companies and, often, the consumer pays more money for these products, depending on the brand attached to it, further increasing the earnings of the company," he says.
The Cepam, owner of the brand Village, will produce Panettone to more than 10 new brands this year. With the increase, the company has approximately 80 customers who buy more products from simple to more elaborate.
"The demand for private label has grown a lot this year. As we finish not sales, it's hard to say how much will be high, but it should grow around 10% ", says the commercial Director of Village, Reinaldo Bertagnon.
He explains that the advancement of own-brand line is the result of a strategy adopted by the company this year. "This expansion comes from new customers, all mid-size retail chains that had production of Panettone inside of own bakeries", quotes.
With the argument that buying the ready product is cheaper for companies, the Cepam has managed to advance in the category, but does not dispense the partnership with large companies in the sector.
"Our total customers, 80% finished applications and 20% are waiting longer to buy," recalls Bertagnon. The Group of buyers more cautious, he reveals, is composed of smaller companies and represents a small part of the total production of Cepam.
With the increased production of private label, the manufacturer designs high 5% total to 7% in the volume of Christmas pudding sold forward to 2016, including the brand name Village. "Writing the contracts for the purchase of raw material in advance and I can't return these inputs, so we must produce and sell, you got no choice", says the Executive.
Second Neide Montesano, the outsourced food production also enters the private label category. The Cepam, for example, manufactures fruitcake to Nestlé.
Competition
The Cepam needed to increase investment in marketing your brand, Village, this year. "Unlike previous years, we have done a distinguished job in communicating with a stronger performance in supermarkets", quotes.
Intakes in actions in points of sale, commercials on television and radio have been strengthened to deal with competitors. In that niche, the Cepam fight with Pandurata, owner of 1906 marks and Visconti. Sought the Pandurata could not meet until the closing of the report.
The Bimbo of Brazil, which sells its Christmas pudding in the South, Southeast and Midwest, also expanded investments in points of sale. The Organization category manager, Renata Araujo, says the company will have sales promoters in retail establishments to increase sale actions.
"[Christmas] is one of the most important dates for the Bimbo of Brazil and, therefore, we invest in development and marketing with focus in this period", says she. The company does not disclose the projections for the production of Christmas pudding.
Own line
Against the trend of buying the finished product, the São Paulo supermarket network Consumer Cooperative (Coop) maintains its own production of Panettone.
"Today our product has a very large acceptance at the points of sale and, this year, the forecast is making 300 tons of fruitcake, the equivalent to 526 thousand units", details the Manager of Coop, Osmar Kimura. He says that the production of the Coop is concentrated on its own line, sold in units of the network, but does not rule out making Christmas pudding to other networks.
"In the future it may be that the Coop meets other markets, but for now is a unique product, who leads sales in our supermarkets, surpassing the traditional brands," he points out.
According to Kimura, this year it is expected to be in line with the numbers of 2014.