At first glance, private label share trends appear to paint an uneventful market: total CPG private label share has held steady over the past four years.
A closer look at the underlying trends behind these numbers, however, reveals substantial changes that are reshaping private label. For instance, there have been sizable private label share shifts -- both increases and decreases -- at the category level. Within these categories, private label’s role and influence have evolved significantly.
In addition, value channels (club, mass, supercenters), whose primary positioning to consumers for years was low prices on branded products, are stepping up their private label offering and capturing increased private label share. This change will prompt both competitive retailer and CPG manufacturer development of value-priced brands/extensions and more aggressive, targeted promotion to lower and middle-income value-conscious consumers.
This issue of Times & Trends provides an assessment of current and emerging private label trends across channels, categories and consumer segments. Insights from this analysis are intended to help CPG manufacturers and retailers see new opportunities and risks with respect to private label development and act on these insights to drive sales and margin growth.