The Big Question: Derek Gaskins

The Big Question: Derek Gaskins

August 2022   minute read

Derek Gaskins, 
Chief Marketing Officer, Yesway
Q: How does Yesway leverage private-label goods to build brand loyalty and drive traffic inside the store?

Private-label products are one of the strategic brand drivers for Yesway. We offer over 300 SKUs across several categories that capture customers’ attention. We go to market with a portfolio approach under the Allsup’s and Yesway brands. Our objective is to leverage private label to deliver quality, unique experiences and value to our consumers.

We position our own brands as good, better and best in many categories. Good is typically as good as national brands but at a compelling value. Better and best-tiered products tend to be distinct from national and regional brands in flavor, texture or some desired attribute, yet still deliver the everyday value that customers seek.

Allsup’s and Yesway branded products are sold within each banner in a reciprocal manner. Allsup’s bread, tortillas, milk, eggs and world-famous burrito food program are reliable staples that engender loyalty. Yesway tends to focus on premium immediate consumption needs. We worked with our suppliers and wholesale network to ensure we sell Allsup’s branded products in Yesway, and Yesway branded products in Allsup’s stores. This portfolio approach helps us position products optimally to drive profitability. Our efforts have increasingly resulted in our own brands becoming customer destinations, giving us a solid foundation for inside sales growth.

As a core pillar of our strategy, we promote private label extensively. We use member pricing through our Yesway Rewards and Allsup’s Rewards loyalty programs, digital sampling to reward our best customers with new private-label items first and creative combos and discount-priced multiples to drive growth. We also have extended our own brands beyond our brick-and mortar stores and sell branded apparel and private-label products online direct to consumers. The success of our program has been compelling. And in these inflationary times, we rely on own brands even more to establish loyalty and drive value.