Sam’s Club upgrades its Member’s Mark private label, sustainably

Sam’s Club announced that its Member’s Mark brand will embrace a new slogan “Made with Our Member and Planet in Mind” and commit to making the environment and sustainability areas of focus.

Sam’s Club aims by 2025 to remove a long list of ingredients such aspartame, formaldehyde, high fructose corn syrup and talc from Member’s Mark food and consumable products, while boosting its assortment of items made using practices that promote animal welfare, support land and ocean health, mitigate deforestation, utilize more sustainable textiles, and come from renewable sources.

More recyclable, reusable, and industrially compostable components will be incorporated in Member’s Mark items and packaging. Suppliers of Member’s Mark items will be asked to participate in parent Walmart’s consortium to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions as part of Project Gigaton.

The upgrades were inspired by Walmart’s 2020 announced intention to become a regenerative company. Over the past two years, over 1,200 Member’s Mark items have already been launched, renovated, and reformulated and members are increasingly citing the improvements as a reason for their renewals.

Prathibha Rajashekhar, SVP, private brands and sourcing, said in a statement, “The Sam’s Club member is at the center of everything we do, so as we continue to evolve the Member’s Mark brand, we intend to develop items that are reflective of the ingredients, processes and materials they want – and don’t want – in their products.”

A new Member’s Mark logo will feature a checkmark to help communicate Member’s Mark focus on people and the planet. Sam’s Club will partner closely with the Walmart Sustainability team and leverage its My Member’s Mark Community, a group that includes more than 40,000 Sam’s Club members who provide regular feedback on Member’s Mark items.

According to the “2022 Retail and Sustainability Survey” from enterprise technology and outsourcing provider CGS, 79 percent of consumers believe that sustainability is “somewhat important” to “very important” when purchasing apparel/footwear products, a return to pre-pandemic levels, with the figure at only 51 percent in the 2020 survey. Almost seven in 10 (68 percent) respondents would pay more for sustainable products.

• Sam’s Club Reveals New Ambitions for Member’s Mark Brand – Walmart
• Member’s Mark Products – Sam’s Club
• Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark brand gets a sustainable makeover – Marketwatch
• Amazon is world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy – Chain Store Age
• Third Annual CGS Survey Reveals Sustainability Resurgence After Popularity Waned During the Pandemic – CGS
• Over 70% of Consumers Would Change Their Shopping Habits After Learning a Brand Isn’t Operating Sustainably, Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls Survey Finds – Sensormatic Solutions/Business Wire