You’re probably familiar with the gallon, the half-gallon, the quart and perhaps the single-serving half-pints sold in elementary school cafeterias.
Now Arizona dairy Shamrock Farms is introducing a new size of milk container: the 96-ouncer.
The new bottle, which is about 3/4 of a gallon, will be used for the company’s organic milk line. The bottles will start appearing in dairy cases in Albertson’s, Bashas’ and Fry’s stores this week, according to a Shamrock Farms presss release.
Called the “Smart Fit” bottle, the new container was designed to be “ergonomically friendly” and includes a no-slip handle, according to the release.
“After extensive consumer research, Shamrock Farms learned that people love what’s in the container and that the greatest improvement opportunity for milk now lies with the container itself,” the release states.
I’m not so sure it’s the weird size, rather the increased cost of raw commodities that in order for Shamrock to be competitive and offer a price point that isn’t shocking at the one gallon level, they came up with the 96oz size, similar to the premium orange juice containers offered by Tropicana, etc.
For several years and just up until the last month, 99c Only Stores has offered a 40oz container of milk for 99c each. With the run-up in commodity prices, 99c Only has been forced to downsize the container to a quart for 99c.
As for Shamrock, they most likely studied this container size issue and forecasted the next 3 to 5 years, milk commodity prices are not going to come back down and determined that the 96oz size would be better from a price proposition.
My belief is that the ease of the container is only part of the story, the other is how can Shamrock offer an organic product that doesn’t price themselves out of the marketplace.
— A V Rabinowitz 10/13/2007 06:40 PM #
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For several years and just up until the last month, 99c Only Stores has offered a 40oz container of milk for 99c each. With the run-up in commodity prices, 99c Only has been forced to downsize the container to a quart for 99c.
As for Shamrock, they most likely studied this container size issue and forecasted the next 3 to 5 years, milk commodity prices are not going to come back down and determined that the 96oz size would be better from a price proposition.
My belief is that the ease of the container is only part of the story, the other is how can Shamrock offer an organic product that doesn’t price themselves out of the marketplace.
— A V Rabinowitz 10/13/2007 06:40 PM #