Target Stores Shift Focus: Less Processed Food Brands, More ‘Healthy’ Options

Target Stores Shift Focus: Less Processed Food Brands, More 'Healthy' Options

If you’re like most Americans, you’re probably looking to add more healthy, fresh foods to your diet, and maybe even stop relying on processed foods altogether. Now, it looks like you won’t need to make an expensive trip to Whole Foods, or even your local farmers market in order to eat healthier. According to Target Corporation, you can head to your nearest Target store, as the chain says it’s shifting its focus to its healthier food selections, and de-emphasizing the processed foods by big-name brands.

The big box mega-retailer reportedly told some of its longtime key suppliers it plans to redirect funds and efforts previously used in marketing their popular processed foods toward its private label and fresher, healthier foods. Brands Target now feels are “off-target” for the retailer’s image include powerhouse food brands Kellogg’s and General Mills.

“That doesn’t mean mac and cheese is being eliminated,” Target told the Wall Street Journal. “But clearly assortment is being shaped around what consumers are looking for.”

According to MarketWatch, Target said it wants “to do less with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Corn Flakes and more with granola and yogurt. Canned soup, a category facing a long decline, will be de-emphasized. The processed foods sold by Kraft Foods Group Inc. and others will move down the totem pole, while fancy sauces and oils will move up.”

This doesn’t mean Target stores are pulling processed foods from their offerings, but the chain will be pulling them from the store circulars and promotions, and even reconfiguring the aisles, moving these items to lower or top shelves.

Target stores are also likely to put a greater emphasis on the chain’s own private label brands—one of which recently launched with an emphasis on healthy, clean ingredients that are GMO-free.

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Target basket image via J. Reed

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