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Walmart 's largest private brand, Great Value, is getting a fresh look. Starting in May, the brand's approximately 10,000 items that span from LED lightbulbs to gallons of milk and frozen chicken nuggets will hit the shelves in new packaging, the company announced Wednesday. Walmart first launched the brand in 1993 and hasn't changed its look in over a decade. The price and the products inside of the new packaging will stay the same. Shoppers will see the more modern and colorful packaging of Great Value beginning with snacks, followed by cereals, cream cheeses, and sour cream items. It will take about 18 to 24 months for every product to get new packaging, said Scott Morris, senior vice president of private brands for Walmart U.S. Great Value has higher household penetration than any other store-owned brand in the country, with 87% of U.S. households purchasing at least one item from the brand in the past year, according to market researcher Numerator. The firm says all of the top five private label brands by household penetration in the U.S. belong to Walmart, which is also the nation's largest grocer by annual revenue.

Walmart's Great Value brand is getting a new look. Starting this spring, shoppers will see more modern and colorful packaging. Courtesy of Walmart

Still, Walmart's overhaul of Great Value is an offensive play as more companies improve the quality of their in-house products. Amazon's grocery brand has become the fastest-growing private label by unit volume year over year since launching in October, according to Numerator. Some retailers, such as Costco and Trader Joe's, have attracted customers because of their reputation for low-priced and high-quality private label groceries and wine, among many other products. And Aldi, a retailer that almost exclusively stocks its own brands, is expanding its national reach by opening more than 180 stores in the U.S. this year. Plus, the overhaul coincides with Walmart's significant gains from customers with annual household incomes of more than $100,000. It's reeled in those wealthier shoppers by not only offering lower prices, but also offering speedier deliveries and more unique and stylish merchandise. For example, it's added more chef-driven flavors, plant-based items and trendy ingredients to Bettergoods, a private label grocery line that launched about two years ago. In an interview with CNBC, David Hartman, vice president of creative at Walmart, said customer research indicated that shoppers liked the quality and price of the products, but "felt like the expression of the brand on the pack was kind of lagging." "What they felt was this sense of it being a compromise," he said. "They love the product across food and consumables, but they didn't particularly feel very proud to display it in their home or with their families."

The packaging for Walmart's Great Value items, such as its Donut Shop coffee, has a colorful and more modern look.