Dive Brief:

• Target on Monday launched Everspring, a line of more than 70 household essentials items with "ingredients and components that are derived from plants or use other renewable materials, as well as post-consumer recycled paper."

• The brand includes laundry detergent, paper towels, hand and face wipes and multi-purpose cleaner among other items, according to a company press release. Everspring's packaging design includes clear icons "to provide a quick read for efficacy and product claims." Most items are priced about $3, with products like 100-oz laundry detergent sold for $12, according to the company's website.

• The brand, which furthers Target's push to sell more items under its own or exclusive labels, was compiled with the "Target Clean," labeling standard introduced in March. The Target Clean icon in stores and online signals that products have been formulated without specific chemicals often found in their categories, including phthalates, propyl-paraben and butyl-paraben and sodium laureth sulfates.

Dive Insight:

Online consumer product startup Brandless has garnered a lot of press and investment capital thanks to its low prices, high quality and stylish packaging, but Target, with its "Smartly" brand unveiled last year and this new effort, is demonstrating how easy it is to tromp on the same territory.

Brandless has offered up in savvy marketing and innovation, including a pop-up store in Los Angeles and a clean beauty line, and is no doubt benefiting from consumers' growing penchant to buy household goods online. But the brand is struggling to retain customers. Just 20% of shoppers who placed an order in the fourth quarter of 2017 placed another one a quarter later, according to data from Edison Trends, while research from Second Measure last year showed that just 11% of shoppers that placed an order the prior fall did so again a year later.

That's a tough situation considering the legacy players don't appear to be willing to cede market share. Target isn't the only one unveiling what Brandless calls "better-for-you" consumer products. Amazon continues to build its private label and exclusives lines with an eye on consumer preferences, and Walmart recently launched a baby line with celebrity husband-wife duo Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard "formulated with safe and effective ingredients, including organic botanicals when possible."

Christina Hennington, Target senior vice president, general merchandise manager, said in a statement that the new brand "is a great example of how we're listening – and responding – to the evolving needs of our guests."