Private Label Gains Fans
More consumers than ever are buying private-label packaged goods on a regular basis.
Fully 41% of shoppers said they frequently buy private-label goods, according to a new survey by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA).
Private label accounts for nearly one-fifth of all items sold in food, drug and mass-merchandise stores, worth more than $50 billion in annual sales, the association reports.
Household penetration is up from 36% of shoppers who called themselves frequent users in 2001, the last time PLMA surveyed consumers about their private-label purchases. And it’s up from a mere 12% of consumers who said they frequently bought store brands in 1991, the first year PLMA conducted its research.
PLMA conducts consumer research every five years to gauge the household penetration of store-brand goods.
For its latest study, Star Power: The Growing Influence of Store Brands in the U.S., PLMA and research firm Ipsos-MORI surveyed more than 1,000 consumers.
The study also found that consumers with household incomes of more than $30,000 buy more private-label goods than those earning less than $30,000. A big part of the appeal is quality: Nearly 70% of respondents said that store brands are as good or better than national brands, up from 50% who thought so in 2001.
That leaves private label poised for growth. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they would buy more private label if stores offer a wider variety of goods. Eighty percent said their satisfaction with current offerings would prompt them to try new items.
PLMA expects store brands to continue spreading beyond grocery and specialty-food stores to retail channels such as home-improvement and office-supply stores, and further penetrate product categories such as health and beauty, household and office supplies.
