Trader Joe's Essay

Private-label products. 80% of the products are in-house. Trader Joe's produces them and sells exclusively at its own stores.

This has two benefits:

First, the company is able to pass savings to customers. Instead of buying milk from some other business, which needs to make profit as well, Trader Joe's cuts that supplier out and instead of a middle man, acts as a supplier and seller. Most of the food sold in stores are brand indifferent, meaning that customers care about the product, not the brand name. Think of milk, eggs, meat. Nobody asks for a certain type of milk, they just want milk. Any large grocery store chain which does not have in-house product of basic food items is operating inefficiently. Compare Trader Joe's to other large grocery store chains such as Ralphs or Vons, they do not have any in-house products. That is why they have higher prices.

Secondly, Trader Joe's is the only place where you can get its branded products. Some popular products include Chili-Lime Chicken Burgers, Cookie Butter (a cookie-flavored nut butter), and corn and chili salsa. Also, they have food sampling, which is a great way to engage customers. It's

One could say they got supersized like the rest of the society. (Food portions, waist lines etc.) There are so many choices at those stores that selecting any particular one is bewildering. Having so many choices makes making a decision harder. One of the reasons is that absence of in-house products. If you offer one type of fat-free Greek yogurt like Trader Joe's does, you don't need to have other similar products. Grocery stores which don't do as Trader Joe's, have to offer similar products by couple of different companies. Limited selection saves money for Trader Joe's, less inventory management, more volume etc. And it makes decision making easier for customers. Trader Joe's also sells mostly food, very little amount of other household items are sold in the