Libbey, Corning shine among glass, dinnerware brands - Top Brands Part II: Consumer Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 19, 1992

When it comes to buying glassware and dinnerware in a discount store, very few brands are named by consumers as a preferred brand, based on a consumer survey of brand preference by Discount Store News.

The listing contracted this year to five brands, down from seven last year.

Libbey tops the list this year, rising above last year's top brands, Corning and Corelle, and is the dominant glassware glassware plier. But the combination of Corning Inc.'s brands--Corelle dinnerware, coupled with Corning and Pyrex serveware/bakeware--add up to a dominant position for a single manufacturer.

While Libbey is the undisputed favorite discount store brand of glassware overall, Anchor Hocking glassware does have a following with Kmart shoppers, Wal-Mart shoppers, and to a lesser extent, Target shoppers.

Private label is not much of a factor in the glassware and dinnerware category, which is especially significant since Target had taken pains to create an integrated private label tableware program.

It is possible, however, that the absence of Target's name on the packaging led consumers to believe that the tableware was not a private label program. This would explain why "Other" brands were preferred by Target consumers far more than at Kmart, Wal-Mart or any other discounter.

A brand other than the leaders was named by roughly 12% of consumers, except those who shopped at Target where slightly more than 20% named a different brand. Given the various names Target uses in' its private label tableware program, no single private label would emerge as a dominant "brand" for Target.

The popularity of private label dropped from 8% to 3% since last year, which could suggest that the now defunct Martha Stewart line of glassware and dinnerware at Kmart may have had pockets of consumer popularity.

Despite the very small universe of preferred brands and the wide availability of these national brand leaders at full-line discount stores accross the country, consumers are nonetheless less certain of finding these brands (or finding them in stock) than other categories. categories. Just slightly over one-third of consumers surveyed were "certain" that they would find the brands they wanted at the discounter they shopped most often. All others were less than certain of finding one of these brands.