Do your store brands present consumers with an alternative choice or another choice? According to Carol Best, vice president of brand strategy for Des Plaines, Ill.-based Schawk Inc.’s retail practice, the difference between the two choices is subtle, but critical when it comes to private brand strategy and execution.

An alternative choice implies compromise, Best told Progressive Grocer’s Store Brands. Such a choice generally replaces one product with another, promotes comparison and “keeps the consumer decision set focused and narrow.” Included among the alternative-choice set are store brands that are overt in their “me-too” strategy through design, compare-to statements and/or benefit claims. Best points to Target Corp.’s up&up brand, Walgreen Co.’s Walgreens brand and Kroger Co.’s Kroger brand as examples.

Another choice, on the other hand, implies an “additional, distinct offering for expanded consideration,” Best said. Here, the consumer decision set actually is extended. Included among this descriptor are store brands that are built on consumer needs and insights and, as a result, meet a need or needs “through unique product[s], packaging attributes, distinct personality and ownable visible language.” Target Corp.’s Archer Farms brand, Safeway Inc.’s Snack Artist and Eating Right brands, and CVS/pharmacy’s Nuance by Salma Hayak are good examples, she noted.

“Quite frankly, we’re at a plateau” in terms of store brand growth, Best said. ”I think we need to have a realistic grounded view of what the numbers are telling us.”

The retailers that opt to innovative around consumer insights — to develop “another choice” — will be the ones that situate themselves for future growth on the private brand side, Best explained. But even the most progressive of marketers here find it hard to walk away from the traditional approach to store brand development, she added, often because they have difficulty getting internal buy-in.

“We believe it is imperative for all private brands retailers to examine their portfolio through a dual lens of driving private brand growth and equity by using private brands as strategic business tools,” she said. “Retailers possess a robust proprietary knowledge on the habits of their customers, and the shelf space is theirs.”

Best will explore her insights on the conundrum retailers face in building brands as another choice versus as an alternative choice — and more — during her presentation at the Food Marketing Institute’s Private Brands Summit in Dallas, held in conjunction with the FMI Show. Titled “Compare to or Not to Compare to: That is the Question,” the presentation is slated for 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1.

To register for the summit, visit http://www.fmi2012.com/privatebrands