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Front Page » Business & Finance » Navarro’s private brand reach balloons

Navarro’s private brand reach balloons

Written by on October 9, 2013
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Navarro’s private brand reach balloons

A South Florida chain is capitalizing on its connection to the Hispanic market to build its brand.

For the last two years, Vida Mia has meant big business for Navarro Discount Pharmacy, which relied on feedback from customers ages 18 to 65 to launch its private label two years ago.

Since then the brand has grown to cover more than 1,000 products and has extended Navarro’s reach well beyond Miami-Dade to other US markets, as the company targets international sales.

“The wholesale position is constantly looking at partnerships,” said Cristy Leon-Rivero, Navarro’s chief marketing officer. “There are plans to sell in Latin America, and distributors are in conversation to sell in the Caribbean. It’s been very well received by our customers, to the point where they come asking for our brand on a regular basis.”

Sold through Navarro’s Miami-based subsidiary, its wholesale operation Magellan Distribution Solutions LLC, the chain offers the brand under a licensing and manufacturing program to other retailers nationwide with a strong Hispanic customer base.

Its Vida Mia label sells in 32 stores in Miami-Dade, one in Pembroke Pines, and locations in Texas and California.

With more than 1,000 unique stock-keeping units, the label covers a range of items from health and beauty to small appliances. Included are professional hair care items, nail polish, coffee, rice cookers and blood pressure monitors.

“It covers a pretty wide array in terms of item assortment,” Ms. Leon-Rivero said. “It really covers everything.”

In Miami-Dade, where Hispanics account for 64.3% of the population, according to the 2012 American Community Survey, and a nation where one in six Americans identified themselves as Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census, Navarro is continuing to rely on its connection to that market.

Even in creating the label, the company sought feedback from Hispanics from several nationalities.

“Most private labels downgrade from the national brand,” Ms. Leon-Rivero said. “One of the things we heard from the consumers is they really wanted to have price and quality aligned. They were open to a private label as long as the price and quality were good.”

More than 80% of its customers are Hispanic, but store representatives say the goal is to also appeal to a broad customer base using strategies such as English and Spanish on Vida Mia packaging.

“You don’t have to be Hispanic to buy the brand…,” Ms. Leon-Rivero said. “Whether you’re Hispanic or not is not the issue. If the first item that someone purchases meets the requirements in terms of price and quality, it’ll make it more likely they will explore other items in the brand.”

 

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