"What upsets us with the suppliers is that the price should be raised in a fair way, and we should come and ride on the price increase," says Yiffit Levy, the VP of Marketing of the Rami Levy Sycamore Marketing chain and the daughter of the chain's owner, Rami Levy.
Levy responded to the claim that the private brands of the large chains raised prices while they are fighting the suppliers' price increases.
"We all see that the prices of raw materials have gone up - sugar, flour, the basic things - so I'm sure it's inevitable, but the increase should be fair."
Levy also referred to the products that are not yet on the shelves following the battle with the suppliers.
"There are still Unilever products that are not on the shelf. Slowly they started to come in, and we guarantee that there will not be a dramatic price increase as they initially wanted. The wars with the suppliers are still behind the scenes. Today we are importers, and we know what the costs are and bring raw materials and create products, so we know what cost and how much. We know what to insist on and what not to insist on. It's always there."
Yiffit Levy, photo: Moorg Bitan
"Alternatives on the Shelf"
The chain's private label has more than 4,300 products.
Levy claims that a private label today is something necessary, and that the turnaround began during the Corona virus.
"Once the private label was an alternative for customers who wanted to save, and this was another competition on the shelf. Today, it has become a product on the shelf that is requested, that the customer needs, and also as an alternative to leading suppliers, because there can be large recalls - as there were now for Sanfrost and Strauss.
"Also, we need alternatives on the shelf also because of the reality we live in. People have cut back a lot because of their financial situation, so first of all they approach the weekly expenses - food, for example, which is an expense they can control. Property tax and electricity they cannot control.
"We said that we must bring the private label one step further, beyond the leading products we have on the shelf, and there we are also expanding the variety. I don't know if we should call them 'niche', but these are products from certain categories that are led by the same talents, which they were partners in building the product and they specialize in their way of life."
Recently, the Rami Levy network recruited Michal Ansky, Sher Fitness and Ron Yohananov as presenters whose names and signatures will appear on hundreds of private label products in the network, with an investment of millions of shekels, and these, as mentioned, were also involved in the development of the products.
Rami Levy // Archive photo: Dodi Vaaknin,
We brought the competition
Carrefour entered the market with very competitive products, and Shufersel announced the entry of "Spar" in the future. How do you react to this competition, and how afraid are you of the entry of the international giants?
"I think that Rami Levy brought the competition, so I'm less afraid. Competition for us is an engine of growth. This is the essence of Rami Levy. We will always expand the private brand, and we are expanding it even in these moments, regardless of them and all the competitors, this is part of the engine of growth Ours, part of the air, we work under pressure."
Carrefour Israel brought, for example, milk substitutes for NIS 5.90, olive oil for NIS 11.50, and more.
How do you react to this?
"We will always expand the private brand, and we are expanding it even at this moment, regardless of them and all the competitors, because we understood that this is the need of the consumer. In terms of price - we guarantee the cheapest shopping basket in the country, even in the private brand. We recently offered soy milk in 10 shekels, and now we offer it for 5.80 shekels. We know how to give the answer."
Are you still accepting requests for price increases?
"It has always been, but never in such a drastic way that it could affect the market one way or the other, and we never agreed automatically. We were always the last they would come to. The price increase came at a time that is very difficult for people, so you also need tact, wait a minute."
How much did the fact that there were no Unilever products bother the consumers?
"It worries consumers. There are also people who consume news in mediums that are less concerned with this matter, so we had to explain and hang signs. There was a 'pilgrimage' to the branch managers, and they were angry that certain products were not available. There were also those who said: 'Raise the price, and I will choose whether I want to pay or not'. On the other side, there were those who really embraced it and said: 'We really appreciate the fight you are waging for us, because we are the mouth of the consumers.'"
Received trust from customers
What was the impact on the private label?
"Sales of the private brand increased by 40%, and some categories even doubled and more. The brand received more trust from the customer. Recently there were many tasting surveys on the private brands, which also contributed to the sales of the private brand. Once there was the Sunfrost crisis and there were no frozen vegetables , they automatically went to the private label."
Shopping at the Rami Levy branch, photo: Gideon Markovich
In view of the statement that Shufersal were the ones who led the fight for the cost of living, Levy stings the large chain in Israel and says: "You don't have to shout loudly what you are doing. It is true that we did not shout, and they shouted with the public relations offices and the advertisement they took out, and that is fine , because with them it is not trivial.
They wanted to come and say: we did something.
For us it is trivial, so what is clear is not said.
That doesn't mean we weren't there and we aren't there.
We are completely there but we didn't shout."
How do you feel about the return of Strauss?
"Slowly, they are returning to the shelves. In the meantime, I think they have returned about 40-30% in their supply. It is still not the same volume as it was. If once the consumer only consumed Strauss chocolates, today he knows how to combine. I believe that was born A very big consumer change in this matter also due to the length of the period, also because of the cost of living and also because people tried and experienced other products. I am not happy that my supplier was hurt by the place of a recall, because it hurts the whole market. There are also employees who work in their own organizations. This is not happy at all Laid, and I would love for it to work properly, but there is a consumer change here."
"Great consumer change"
"The recall with Sunfrost also caused a very big consumer change. People went back to buying Sunfrost, but not to the same extent. I see this with our private brand as well. Previously, Sunfrost's share was at least 70% with us, and now it is divided equally."
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