Walmart unveils new packaging for its Great Value store brand to reflect
changing shopping habits
[April 15, 2026] By
ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart is redesigning the packaging of its Great Value
store brand to help customers instantly spot whether that bag of spicy
chips is gluten free or how much protein is packed in its chicken
nuggets.
Great Value is Walmart's biggest private label food brand and one of the
largest food and consumer packaged goods labels in the U.S. The redesign
of the brand, which spans 10,000 different products, also reflects how
shoppers are looking at its store brands in food not as a stepdown from
national labels but more as an equivalent.
Among the changes are better images of its food. For example, new
packaging for Great Value lasagna shows the meal garnished with a basil
leaf served on a full plate displayed on a red checkered table cloth
against a red background instead of the lasagna against a white
background, to better tempt shoppers to pick up the item, according to
Walmart executives.
The changes, announced Wednesday, mark the first full redesign in more
than 10 years for the 33-year-old brand. The new packaging will start to
appear on shelves next month, according to Scott Morris, senior vice
president of Walmart's U.S. private brands division. He emphasized the
redesign doesn't include any changes to the products themselves.
The changes are happening as challenging economic times are pushing
shoppers to buy more store label brands instead of national labels,
which tend to be more expensive. Private brands accounted for 23.9% of
the overall market share in the number of units in the food and beverage
category sold last year, up slightly from 23.7% during the previous
year, according to market research firm Circana. That compares with
76.1% for national name brands last year, down from 76.3% in 2024.
Walmart said that overall store label brands account for about a quarter
of Walmart U.S. merchandise sales but declined to give out sales figures
for Great Value. The company has repeatedly said that shoppers are
increasingly gravitating toward its store label brands.
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This photo provided by Walmart shows the redesigned packaging for
Walmart's Great Value food brand. (Walmart via AP)
 Moreover, customers are increasingly
picky about the ingredients in their food, looking for
protein-packed meals or items without gluten, for example. In
addition, Walmart said that its shoppers along with its gig workers,
who have to quickly pick items off the shelves to assemble online
orders, are looking to speed up their shopping so they need to be
able to spot the key ingredient elements quickly.
“We're offering this great product at a very
affordable price, but there was always this kind of lagging feeling
that a customer was buying this product that felt like they had to
compromise," said Dave Hartman, vice president of creative design
for Walmart. "So that was one of the key impetuses in terms of
redesigning the brand.”
Other food companies are also redesigning their packaging. PepsiCo.
announced earlier this month a refreshed package design for its
Tostitos to better call out claims such as no artificial colors,
flavors or preservatives.
Great Value's new design will relocate nutritional information to
the upper right hand corner of packaging, Hartman said. In the past,
there was no consistent location, he said.
For example, the newly redesigned package of Great Value Chicken
Nuggets calls out 11 grams of protein per serving at the upper right
hand corner. The photo shows the nuggets on a plate with a container
of red sauce in the middle. The previous package doesn't offer the
protein count, and the photo doesn't show the entire plate.
The move to redesign Great Value packaging is the latest investment
Walmart is making in its store label brands. Walmart announced last
fall its goal to remove synthetic dyes from its food private brands.
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