Dive Brief:
- Amid growing consumer interest in store brand products, private-label brand sales increased 6% year over year in the U.S. to $217 billion in 2023, according to a new report from Circana. However, private-label unit sales have only risen by 0.9% year-over-year.
- Private-label brands gained share over name brands last year, rising from 24.7% of total unit sales in 2022 to 25.5% last year. Owned brands in food, shelf-stable beverages, refrigerated food, beauty and home all grew unit share, per the report.
- Millennials and Gen Xers without children comprised more than a third (36%) of private-label food and beverage sales. Households with kids made up another 35% of those sales, the report said.
Dive Insight:
Circana’s research builds upon previous reports suggesting that consumers are warming up to private-label brands.
An October survey from food industry association FMI found that 54% of consumers surveyed said they anticipate buying much more or somewhat more from private-label brands, but only 26% said the same for name-brand items. Research from the Private Label Manufacturers Association released this month found that private-label products made up more than a fifth of grocery unit sales last year, reaching a record for the category. In addition to private-label food categories gaining share, Circana also found beauty private labels grew their unit share by 0.3 points, general merchandise by 0.6 points and home by one point.
Although sales have risen in recent years, the share of units has plateaued, the Circana report suggests. Though private-label brand sales grew from $157.2 billion in 2019 to $216.8 billion last year, unit sales peaked in 2020 at 57.1 billion. They have since hovered around 53 billion, rising slightly to 53.5 billion last year, Circana found.
“Private brands are increasingly capturing market share from name brands, experiencing growth in both dollar sales and units,” Mary Ellen Lynch, principal of center store solutions at Circana, said in a statement. “This trend is driven by consumers, particularly those with children, as well as millennial and Gen X households without children, who are strategically employing a variety of methods to stretch their dollars amid high inflation.”
Retailers have been rushing to cash in on the growing private-label interest. Target, which owns about 50 private-label brands, debuted two more so far this year: the basics brand Dealworthy and the toy brand Gigglescape. It also relaunched its Up&Up brand of home essentials last month.
Similarly, Macy’s has been releasing private-label brands of its own as part of a merchandising revamp. Last July, the company introduced On 34th, a women’s apparel brand with more than 750 SKUs. And in early February, the department store giant debuted its loungewear and sleepwear brand for women, State of Day.
