When it comes to grocery shopping, there are certain things that I refuse on buying the generic ‘store brand’ of, but there are a lot of things that I DO buy. I do a lot of my shopping at Walmart. Sure, we may have to drive 33 miles to get to our ‘local’ Walmart store, but we prefer to drive further to get the better deals and the better products. I will be honest and tell you that when Walmart first changed their packaging, I did not like it at all. It has since grown on me. There are a few packaging that I think needs a bit of work on, but overall, the food products are still the same and we still love them!
Here are some of the new packing that we had a chance to try out, and yes – even though it has new packaging, we still love the cookies, crackers and even the cereal. I really love the packaging of the cereals. The images are captured beautifully!
Seriously – who can deny the packaging on the classic shortbread cookies?? The packaging on this one looked nice.
When your kids go to pick out their cereal, they want to see images on the box, don’t they? Aren’t these great? I thought the packaging on these were nice and easy to find in the store.
These are literally my favorite cracker out there but the packaging needs some work. It (to me) looks too ‘generic’.
Makes you want to get a glass of milk, doesn’t it? I liked the packaging on this one, but in the store, it blended in too much with the other white packaging of the cookies in the same aisle.
I will be honest and say that I am not a huge fan of the packaing, on all of the products. The cereal, I did like. The cookies were good too, but I did not like the packaging on the crackers. When we were in Walmart today, we passed on the GV brand of veggies because:
- the packaging didn’t appeal to or the kids. They chose the name brand because of the label.
- the price was just a few cents (like 9 cents difference) off from the Great Value packaging
- it took us too long just to FIND the canned vegetable that we were looking for because of packaging, so we stuck with the name brand because the label was easier to read (in my opinion)
Some of the things like the cereal was easy to find, but things like crackers were not to easy to read. Actually, all the white boxes started to blend in with each other. They are still good products, but I think some of the packaging needs to be reconsidered. Maybe different or more images on the packaging? I don’t know.
What do you think of the new Walmart packaging? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!
About Tanya
@Lorie Shewbridge,
I know that this post is over 2 years old but I thought I’d comment
Lorie I understand what you are saying. At the same time, some Technology company has to hire more people in order to keep those self check-out lanes running. The job hasn’t been lost, it has just shifted to a different job sector.
A good example would be Office staff for business. Less Secretary type positions are available now because information that was once located in a room with many filing cabinets is now located on a File Server etc.
I work in the Technology field with a state run University in North Carolina. Positions for Departments are being cut due to the economy, but positions are being added to the Technology Department. So it really is a job sector shift.
Have a great weekend everyone and Jesus Bless you all!
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I’m a little late to the party on this post, but had to add my two cents. The new white packaging doesn’t stink…it sucks. Walmart does seem to have made some positive adjustments to it since it was introduced, however. Props to them for the effort, but they still fell far short of making a serious improvement. Am I the only one here old enough to remember a time before food stamps, when welfare families were given pantries full of white-labeled “commodities?” When I first saw the new packaging, that’s exactly what I thought of and had trouble moving past it. I buy them, but only because of the cost savings. As with other posters, I find it difficult to find things quickly…heaven help you if you can’t read or, better yet, don’t speak English, as many have no Spanish labels. I agree that the old packaging was a little tired, but this wasn’t the answer.
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I guess I wasn’t the only one who thought the new great Value packaging really stunk. As an artist/designer I can only chuckle thinking about what must have gone on during the presentation meeting. I can see the recently graduated design student/expert extolling the visual benefits of “white” packaging “popping” off the shelf! . (Didn’t their professor tell them about the white spot on the black background just drawing all your attention?) Of course probably never actually put comp samples on the shelf to see what the package would look like in the real world. Great use of 4-color printing also. And I really like the tiny, tiny photos of the product. Those Double-Cross crackers aren’t really bite size after all! What a hoot to think someone actually “snowed” them on this one and actually got paid for it! Why can’t I find a client like that?
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As a mother of a preschool age child (who cannot yet read) this new packaging has proven very confusing for him. For example, when he asks if he can go get himself a granola bar, when he looks in the cabinet he has a hard time telling the difference between, for example, the granola bars, the crackers, and a box of grits. I agree with the above poster, this new packaging is a huge mistake. Aside from difficulty in telling items apart, there is nothing attractive about the packaging to draw consumers to it. Whoever had part in this decision must have FAILED marketing 101.
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I am sorry but I totally disagree with you. I hate the packaging. I just reeks of low class and poor quality. I won’t buy any thing that I am going to put in my mouth. I don’t trust it. It looks like FEMA left overs. The only packaging I have found that turned me off like this is the Kroger cheapie one. I have been looking and even the very most frugal shoppers are passing over this one. I just don’t have confidence in it, and I won’t buy it. This is a total disaster as far as my family is concerned. I can’t wait for it to fail and get it off the shelves. It just seems to haunt you as you go down the isles. I dont’ want it in my cupboards. WHo ever did this needs to be looking for another job.
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I don’t like the new design at all. Help me to remember how poor I am, its like we don’t deserve attractive graphics. I am actually buying some of the brand names now. I hate my peanut butter looking like something out of communist china.The price is what made the brand Great Value brand stand out, now it is an ugly label—-will I pay more for a little color in my kitchen? I have to now.
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I do NOT like the new white packaging. I have bought GV in many products over the years, b/c the value did seem pretty good. But now, I wonder. Like one writer said, they seem to be phasing out many name brands. The sugar shelf was almost all Great Value. I paid a dollar more for C&H sugar, just because I don’t like what WM is doing. And I plan to do a lot more shopping at other stores than I have been. A few Great Value products I really like, and those I will buy. But for anything that is not better, I will pay a little more for the brand name or go to another store.
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Thank heavens there is a place to come and vent about my distaste for this awful packaging. I think it is awful. In these hard economic times I am always trying to pinch my pennies, and I do think that quite a bit of the Great Value products are quite nice. But, the new packages are way TOO Generic. It has poor all over it, we do not need to be reminded of how hard times are right now and if you are already going to WalMart to do your shopping and you even buy the Great Value products in Walmart than you too are probably like me and do not it shoved in your face that times are tough. I mean whats next? Take away the picture and the colored ink and you have big black text that says FOOD on it?
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I don’t care for the white packaging – doesn’t bother me that much on the store shelf – because I know it’s oatmeal since it’s near the Quaker brand…. but at home in my pantry the oatmeal, crackers, etc all look the same!! I can’t find anything at a glance like before!
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This was a great post. I agree with you about the generic packaging though. It has a lot to be desired. I feel like it really stands out now in my buggy. I did like the cookies. They didn’t last long in my house.
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I also find them difficult to read in what every one is calling the “sea of white”. If I forget to bring my reading glasses – then just forget it!!
If I may say one thing to the “off-topic” subject of self-checkout lanes. In this economy of unemployment, for everyone that uses the self-checkout lane, remember that there is a cashier that has lost a job because of it. (Off my soap box now.)
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I think the packaging looks very generic, like the brand itself…it doesnt look great, but I have to say it stands out. It definitly stands out as the generic and makes me look at the price and item actually. I found myself actually buying more of their items because they were easily spotted with that white packaging…so it drew my eyes to it, then checked out what exactly it was. I bought their cookies and I never do…it was the packaging that stood out and I said hey zach would like those and they are cheaper than keebler, so I bought them. So yeah it isnt the best looking and I had to do a second look to make sure I was buying the mac and cheese we always buy, but it does catch your attention if you are looking to get a better deal than the name brand.
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The new packaging just isn’t happening for me. When I first saw it I was turned off by it. Don’t get me wrong, I still buy their brand…but I don’t like the new packaging. It just *looks* cheap to me. It reminds me of when I was kid and my parents bought Kroger brand powdered milk (yes, I was actually raised drinking powdered milk). They probably had that on all their brand prodcuts but that particular item stuck in my mind. It was a yellow box with a pair of black scissors going across a dashed line. It just reaks of “cheap”.
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I do not like the new packaging. They remind me of the terrible generic products my mom bought for us when I was a kid (late 70′s to 80′s)
I liked it better before when it was less conspicuous when my cart was filled w/Great Value products. Now, with the stark white packaging, it’s really obvious that I’m buying the cheap products & it points me out as “poor” & that’s totally embarrassing.
I’ve actually started buying more of the name brand products to avoid having my cart & shelves so obviously filled with cheap looking products.
Sorry, that’s my opinion.
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the jingle from walmart used to be “brands you want for less”. now it is crappy great value brand you don’t want
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I have to say whoever came up with this (like if the more than 11 mom’s were in on it) they kind of dropped the bag on this one.
They are neither appealing, easy to find nor worth the very little cents off imo. If I have a coupon it is almost always cheaper to go with the name brand and even if I don’t I don’t have hours to devote to grocery shopping- it might be different if I was getting a decent percentage off but they don’t even give you that.
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Thank you Tanya for giving me a forum to express my dislike for this new packaging for Great Value! While, I, like a lot of Mommies are Wal-Mart shoppers and always on the look out for savings especially in these hard economic times. Have found these new Packages to be unappealing, they blend together and make it hard to find what you are looking for. Just yesterday I was at the store trying to find pudding for my sons birthday. Because I am trying to save money and really do like the Wal-Mart Great Value Brand itself I did try to find what I was looking for, but after staring into a sea of white boxes with black lettering that seemed to blur together for about 1/2 hour (seemed like an eternity) I choose to go with a name brand which cost me approximately 20cents more. I only wish I would have gotten it sooner and not wasted my time looking for the other one because my time with my family is precious and that is a 1/2 hour that I could have been spending with my son on his birthday. The blue was better!
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When I first saw the new design before it was implemented I thought it looked great. But then I saw it in stores on the shelves next to the name brands and I didn’t like it. I think generic brands that don’t look generic seem to get more attention. These just looked too generic to me. I will continue to buy them, because the products inside are just as good, but I think maybe something besides the white packaging would be good. Maybe a blue package like the Walmart blue would blend in with the name brands a little more. I think the simplicity of the new designs are good, just not the stark white.
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I don’t care about the packaging, but I do care that our Wal-Mart seems to be phasing out many name brand products…and leaving one or two choices along with their generic.
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I think they look TOO generic. I agree that it doesn’t really appeal to the kids and make them want the product. I asked my kids if they wanted to buy them and they said NO. Hmmm.
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It’s growing on me too. At first I didn’t like it because it reminded of those No-Name Generics from when I was little that I couldn’t stand when my parents bought them. Remember in the 70′s those plain white boxes or cans with nothing but black lettering. No kid wanted to eat cereal out of a plain white box that said nothing but Cereal on it. I still insist on my favorite brands for condiments, ice cream and toilet paper. However as long as it tastes the same I’ll buy Great Value products. So far there has only been 2 items I didn’t like and will go back to the Brand. I think that’s pretty good and I save a lot of money at Wal-Mart. Off topic here, but another thing I like about Wal-Mart is the self check out lanes you can even add your own bags.
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