Store brands are definitely having a moment. Sales of a wide variety of private-label foods, such as pasta, sauces and breakfast cereal, have shot up by more than one-third since the COVID-19 outbreak began. Sales of non-food private-label items, like laundry detergent and toilet paper, have climbed as well. And with millions of Americans out of work, extended unemployment benefits set to expire soon and a recession looking more and more likely — analysts are expecting continued momentum for this $90 billion-plus category.
Consumers were already trying more private-label products before the worldwide pandemic. Once thought of by consumers as inferior to national brands, public perception of private brands has come a long way in the last decade. Today, one out of every four products sold in U.S. grocery stores is a private label or store brand, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association. In a recent PLMA survey, two-thirds of consumers indicated that store brand products are “just as good if not better” than the national brand equivalent of the same product.
Research firm AlixPartners found that about a quarter of consumers in a recent survey have tried private-label brands for the first time this year, since the outbreak began. For some consumers, cost was a factor in trying a store brand — a generic brand of cookies, for example, is often less expensive than the national brand. In other cases, the consumer’s preferred brand was out of stock, prompting them to try a store brand as a substitute. Not only did they try private brands, they liked them. Among those who purchased store brands this year, nearly one-third said they plan to continue buying them, according to the AlixPartners survey.
