An Absolute Unit

Great Value was launched in 1993 (but products were made as early as 1992) and forms the second tier, or national brand equivalent ("NBE"), of Walmart's grocery branding strategy.[1]

Products offered through the Great Value brand are often claimed to be as good as national brand offerings, but are typically sold at a lower price because of lower marketing and advertising expense. As a house or store brand, the Great Value line does not consist of goods produced by Walmart, but is a labeling system for items manufactured and packaged by a number of agricultural and food corporations, such as ConAgra,[citation needed] and Sara Lee[citation needed] which, in addition to releasing products under its own brands and exclusively for Walmart, also manufactures and brands foods for a variety of other chain stores. Often, this labeling system, to the dismay of consumers, does not list location of manufacture of the product. Wal-Mart contends that all Great Value products are produced in the United States. Otherwise, the country of origin would be listed.

As Walmart's most extensively developed retail brand, covering hundreds of household consumable items, the Great Value line includes sliced bread, frozen vegetables, frozen dinners, canned foods, light bulbs, trash bags, buttermilk biscuits, cinnamon rolls, pies and many other traditional grocery store products. The wide range of items marketed under the Great Value banner makes it Walmart's top-selling retail brand.

The Great Value brand can also be seen in Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil and some Trust Mart stores in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, through a partnership with Walmart. Bharti EasyDay retail grocery stores sell Great Value brand products in India as well. Great Value brand products as well as Walmart merchandise are also present in Seiyu grocery stores (owned by Walmart) in Tokyo, Japan as of October 2014, despite at least one report of a transition away from the brand.[3]

By mid-summer 2009, Walmart had redesigned the Great Value labels to be predominantly white. The new redesign also includes over 80 new items, including thin-crust pizza, fat-free caramel swirl ice cream, strawberry yogurt, organic cage-free eggs, double-stuffed sandwich cookies, and teriyaki beef jerky. Walmart changed the formulas for 750 items, including: breakfast cereal, cookies, yogurt, laundry detergent, and paper towels. The new brand was tested by over 2,700 people.[4] Other retailers are following suit with their private label packaging as well.

Great Value went through another redesign in 2013 for most of its food items, replacing predominantly white designs with more colorful packaging.