From Niche to Riche: A Wee Tale of Brand Breakthrough

The four foot section of eco-niche brands has officially set at Walmart.  As previously blogged, Walmart recently scored two eco brands with crunchy cred: Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyer's.  The former took great pains to set the stage for its Walmart launch, going so far as to post a somewhat beseeching article explaining the decision on the Seventh Generation blog (check out the comments and you will understand why all the hand wringing).  And Walmart didn't sit idly by and let Seventh Gen to the heavy lifting.  They are going all-in with their positioning of the brand launch, going so far as to refer to it as a "mission" and "long-term, strategic partnership."  Sheesh, it's enough to make a middling national brand that has to sell back in every season green with envy (couldn't resist).

By contrast, nary a word has been published about the Mrs. Meyer's decision and a store search on the brand's website didn't betray it either (as of this writing).  Do a store search in California, and "Available everywhere but Walmart" might as well pop up.

Two niche brands.  Two very different approaches to breaking the Walmart barrier!