Brentwood, Tennessee-based MAPCO Express Inc., a division of Delek US Holdings Inc., is expanding its private label business to increase profit margins and differentiate itself from competitors.  MAPCO currently has 50 private label SKUs in its 500 c-stores but plans to rebrand all of its private label products in the coming months, reports CSNews Online.

“We will use a variety of different names. Most products won’t have our name on it, won’t have an ‘M’ on it,” said Paul Pierce, MAPCO’s VP of Marketing. “They will be brands we are creating. The consumer may never know the product is a MAPCO brand. They’ll just know they can’t get it anywhere else.”

The first new item, which will ship in the next month, is a private-label vitamin-enhanced isotonic with zero sugar, zero carbs. “It’ll probably be priced a little below the major brands, but we will be promoting it as a very unique product,” Pierce said.

Pierce said that margins had been declining with national brands, citing as an example a bottle of Coke or Pepsi selling for $1.39 with a 30% margin.  Pierce said that MAPCO’s private label soda may retail for 99 cents, while carrying a 50% margin.  “With the economy on a downward cycle, all of the trends point to customers wanting to maintain their consumption levels. . .We are considering our own brand of smokeless tobacco,” Pierce added.  “There is nothing out there we wouldn’t consider.”