Private Label: The Journey to Growth

While private label products had solid momentum in the early 2000s, growth has become fairly stagnant over the past several years. In fact, last year, private label had declines in unit and dollar share. As food prices continue to fall, national brand manufacturers have been lowering their prices.

This impacts private label price benefits and encourages private label marketers to continue reducing their prices to re-establish their low-price advantage. Unfortunately, this over reliance on low-price competition and exorbitant promotions is a dangerous spiral – one that negatively affects the private label sector and the CPG industry as a whole.

To stabilise private label and boost comp store sales, retailers must travel new paths to growth. As a first step, private label marketers must thwart losses in established private label categories and identify opportunities where private label is showing favourable growth trends.

IRI’s latest Times & Trends report, “Private Label: The Journey to Growth Among Roads Less Travelled,” explores how Premiumisation and differentiation can set the stage for private label growth, allowing private label products to compete as true brands.