Sam's Choice, originally introduced as Sam's American Choice in 1991, is a retail brand in food and selected hard goods. Named after Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, Sam's Choice forms the premium tier of Walmart's two-tiered core corporate grocery branding strategy that also includes the larger Great Value brand of discount-priced staple items.[3]
Compared to Great Value products and to other national brands, Sam's Choice is positioned as a premium retail brand and is offered at a price competitive with standard national brands. It typically offers either competitive items in a given product category, or items in categories where the market leader is an "icon" (for example, Coca-Cola in the soft drink category).
Most Sam's Choice beverage products (excluding Grapette and Orangette)[citation needed] are manufactured for Walmart by Cott Beverages.[4] Other products in the line, including cookies, snack items, frozen meals, and similar grocery items, are made by a variety of agricultural and food manufacturers.
Competitive pricing of the Sam's Choice brand and store-branded and generic goods is possible because of the lower expense required to market a retail chain's house brand, compared to advertising and promotional expenses typically incurred by the national brands.
Most Sam's Choice-branded products have been replaced by either the relaunched Great Value brand, or the new Marketside brand.[citation needed] The brand was reintroduced in 2013 with a new logo and a focus on premium food products with organic ingredients.
Great Value was launched in 1993 (but products were made as early as 1992) and forms the second tier, or national brand equivalent (NBE), of Walmart's grocery branding strategy.[3]
Products offered through the Great Value brand are often claimed by Walmart to be as good as national brand offerings, but are typically sold at a lower price because of lower marketing and advertising expense. As a house or store brand, the Great Value line does not consist of goods produced by Walmart, but is a labeling system for items manufactured and packaged by a number of agricultural and food corporations, such as ConAgra, and Sara Lee which, in addition to releasing products under its own brand and exclusively for Walmart, also manufactures and brands foods for a variety of other chain stores.[5][6] Often, this labeling system does not list location of manufacture of the product. Walmart contends that all Great Value products are produced in the United States.[citation needed] Otherwise, the country of origin would be listed.
As Walmart's most extensively developed retail brand, covering hundreds of household consumable items, the Great Value line includes sliced bread, frozen vegetables, frozen dinners, canned foods, light bulbs, trash bags, buttermilk biscuits, cinnamon rolls, pies, and many other traditional grocery store products. The wide range of items marketed under the Great Value banner makes it Walmart's top-selling retail brand.
The Great Value brand can also be seen in Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil and some Trust Mart stores in Hunza Pakistan, through a partnership with Walmart but China is not included anywhere. Bharti EasyDay retail grocery stores sell Great Value brand products in India as well. Great Value brand products as well as Walmart merchandise are also present in Seiyu grocery stores (owned by Walmart) in Tokyo, Japan as of October 2014, despite at least one report of a transition away from the brand.[7]
In 2009, the Great Value labels were redesigned to be predominantly white. The new redesign also includes over 80 new items, including thin-crust pizza, fat-free caramel swirl ice cream, strawberry yogurt, organic cage-free eggs, double-stuffed sandwich cookies, and teriyaki beef jerky. Walmart changed the formulas for 750 items, including: breakfast cereal, cookies, yogurt, laundry detergent, and paper towels.[8] Great Value went through another redesign in 2013 for most of its food items, replacing predominantly white designs with more colorful packaging. [citation needed]
Bettergoods (stylized as bettergoods) was launched in 2024 as a higher-end line of grocery products, though still marketed as budget-friendly. The initial launch began with over 300 items aiming to show the speed at Walmart could "bring trend and innovation to market at scale."[9] The focus of the brand is to expand into three specific markets: new culinary experiences, plant-based alternatives to mainline products, and "Made Without" products catering to different dietary styles (i.e. gluten-free, or made without artificial flavors, colorings or added sugars).
Equate is a brand used by Walmart for consumable pharmacy and health and beauty items, such as shaving cream, skin lotion, over-the-countermedications, and pregnancy tests. Before its takeover by Walmart, the formerly independent Equate brand sold consumer products at both Target and Walmart at lower prices than those of name brands. Equate is an example of the strength of Walmart's private labelstore brand. In a 2006 study, The Hartman Group marketing research firm issued a report which found that "Five of the top 10 "likely to purchase" private label brands are managed by Walmart including: Great Value, Equate, Sam's Choice, Walmart, and Member's Mark (Sam's Club), per the study." The report further noted that "...we are struck by the magnitude of mind-share Walmart appears to hold in shoppers' minds when it comes to awareness of private label brands and retailers."[10]
In mid-2010, the brand underwent a logo redesign, as well as packaging changes similar to the Great Value brand.
In 1998, samples of Ol' Roy (together with various other brands) were subject to qualitative analyses for pentobarbital residue by the U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationCenter for Veterinary Medicine due to suspicion that the anesthetizing drug may have found its way into pet foods through euthanized animals. Pentobarbital was found in 5 out of the 8 Ol' Roy samples in the initial survey. The highest level of pentobarbital detected among all dog foods tested was an Ol' Roy formulation (Puppy Formula, Chicken and Rice) at 32ppb. The CVM concluded this level of pentobarbital would be unlikely to cause adverse effects even to the smallest dogs.[12][13]
Parent's Choice is Walmart's store brand; including diapers, formula, and accessories. Like other Walmart store brands, its design and packaging was relaunched in 2010. Parent's Choice is manufactured by Wyeth, a pharmaceutical company that is a subsidiary of Pfizer. [citation needed] On October 15, 2009, representatives of Pfizer signed the final acquisition papers, making Wyeth a wholly owned subsidiary of that company, thus completing the US$68-billion dollar deal.[14]
Play Day is a wide-ranging brand of budget-priced children's toys. Play Day launched in between mid-2014 and early-2015, as a replacement brand for Kid Connection.[clarification needed]
Pen+Gear is Walmart's store brand for school and office supplies. From notebooks, pens, markers, paper, binders, pencils and even paper shredders. Pen+Gear replaced the brand name Casemate in late 2016.
Better Homes and Gardens is a product line with designs inspired from the popular magazine of the same name. It forms the premium tier to the Mainstays home brand, producing goods such as furniture, kitchen products, bedding, curtains and window blinds, decor, and other home products.
Hometrends products include small furniture, tableware and various home decor accessories, such as rugs and faux plants. (Discontinued in USA market)
Mainstays Kids
Your Zone is a home product line that tailors toward teenagers and college students.
EverStart is the brand for automotive and lawn mower batteries. The brand is also used for battery-related accessories, such as jumper cables. EverStart batteries are manufactured by Johnson Controls, Inc., (who also manufactures batteries for other store brands) primarily at plants in Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Motile - laptops, miscellaneous tech, and tech accessories
Oak Leaf – low-cost wines produced and bottled for Walmart selling at approximately $3 a bottle.[19]
Onn (stylized as onn.) – consumer electronics, computer accessories, audio/visual accessories, and phone/tablet accessories
Our Finest/Notre Excellence is a brand for upscale chips, cookies, frozen dinners, etc. which are sold exclusively in Canada. This brand is comparable to World Table and is manufactured in Canada exclusively for Walmart Canada.
Overpowered – pre-built gaming desktops and laptops[20]
Ozark Trail – outdoor equipment and footwear. (The Walmart Home Office is located in the Ozark mountain region in northwest Arkansas.)
ReliOn – diabetes care products, including blood glucose and blood pressure monitors, as well as medical thermometers, portable humidifiers and replacement filters for both ReliOn and name brand humidifiers
Spark Imagine - simple children's toys made with high-quality materials; comparable to Melissa and Doug
Spring Valley - vitamins and supplements
SuperTech is Walmart's brand of motor oil. Oil for both gasoline and diesel engines is sold under the SuperTech brand. The brand is also used on other consumable automotive products, such as oil filters, windshield wiper fluid, and transmission fluid.
Tasty - kitchen tools (Walmart exclusive under license from BuzzFeed)[21]
The Office – office supplies and stationery
Uniquely J, a brand under Walmart's Jet.com website[22]
World Table – upscale salsa, pizza, chips, cookies, etc., which are manufactured exclusively for Walmart and fancier than their Great Value equivalents
Way to Celebrate! – A brand of party and holiday supplies including balloons, party favors, plates, holiday decorations, etc. manufactured exclusively for Walmart [clarification needed]
Backyard Grill – grills, charcoal, and grilling accessories (discontinued)
Durabrand was a brand used for home electronics, such as televisions and DVD players. The brand was also used on various small kitchen appliances.
iLo Technologies was another brand of home electronics, consisting of more upscale items such as televisions, small electronics and digital music players.
Blackweb were premium electronics products; discontinued after a rebranding of the Onn line in 2020.
Canopy was a home product line for rooms and other domestic goods. The brand was replaced by the Better Homes and Gardens line in 2012.
Casemate was Walmart's school and office supplies brand in 2015. In late 2016, it was replaced by Pen+Gear.
Faded Glory was an apparel brand for women, men, and children. It was replaced by Time & Tru (for women), George (for men), and Wonder Nation (for children) in 2018.
Metro 7 was an upscale brand of women's apparel that was originally released in the fall of 2006 and eventually was discontinued.
Price First was a bottom-tier, low-priced generic brand that Walmart introduced in late 2013. It included very basic grocery items, trash bags, and paper goods. It was launched as an experimental brand targeted towards the most budget-conscious shoppers. It was the lowest priced brand at Walmart and availability varied by stores. Some of the grocery items included milk (which is often brand-name milk with a Price First label,[citation needed] as is Great Value milk),[citation needed] bread, granulated sugar, canned fruit/vegetables, boxed brownie mix, toaster pastries, elbow pasta, egg noodles, spaghetti, and skillet meals. Non-grocery items included paper towels, toilet tissue, trash bags, and food storage bags. The brand was discontinued in 2016.
Promark was a brand for tools in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was replaced by Popular Mechanics branding.
Puritan was a brand for men's basic clothing, including shirts, pants, undergarments, socks, ties, and some accessories. In late 2010, the brand was discontinued and replaced by Faded Glory (with undergarments, socks and casual clothing) and George (with ties, shirts, pants and formal clothing).
725 Originals was a brand at Walmart Canada that targeted teens. It was consolidated into the George label in 2010.[1]
Dr Thunder was a brand of soft drink produced for Walmart stores. It was originally called "Southern Lightning", but the name was changed to reflect its similarities to Dr Pepper. Since 2009, Walmart has sourced their store brand sodas from multiple companies, having previously exclusively used Cott Beverages as its manufacturer.[citation needed] The soda, as with all Walmart store brands, is also carried by Asda stores in the UK.
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