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Private Label Sales Continue to Climb, Report Says

PLMA study says store brand sales surpassed $118 billion last year.

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By: Karen McIntyre

Editor, Nonwovens Industry

Store brands sales reached $118.4 billion in 2015, an all-time record and an increase of $2.2 billion over the previous year. In the past two years alone, annual sales are up 5%, or $5.4 billion, in the major retail channels, according to PLMA’s 2016 Private Label Yearbook.

Store brands dollar share reached 17.7%, also the highest mark ever. Across all outlets combined store brands sales grew 2%, a performance that equaled that of national brands, which also rose 2%. In unit sales, both store brands and national brands were off fractionally, less than a half percentage point each. Unit sales of store brands were almost 44 billion, nominally on par with last year. As a result, store brand unit share held at 21.1%. The PLMA Private Label Yearbook compiles sales data provided by Nielsen for the 52 weeks ending December 26, 2015.

Looking at supermarkets, total sales of store brands were $62.5 billion, roughly even with the prior year. Over a two-year period, sales are up in the supermarket channel by 2%, or $1.1 billion. With unit share at 22.9%, nearly one of every four items sold in the country’s supermarkets last year was a store brand. As for drug chains, store brand dollar sales rose nearly a percentage point to $8.4 billion last year, while national brands fell about a point. Figures for all outlets come from total U.S. supermarkets with annual sales over $2 million, drug chains with annual sales over $1 million, mass merchandisers, club and dollar store channels, and military exchanges.

Looking beyond these traditional outlets and the data available from Nielsen, a more comprehensive figure for annual store brand sales in food and non-food consumables would include an estimated $20 billion or more in revenues from chains that range from no-frills discounters like Aldi and Save-a-Lot, to specialty chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, as well as convenience stores.

If counted, these outlets would produce a grand total approaching $140 billion in sales. Even that total does not take into consideration store brand products sold by chains specializing in office supplies; hardware, tools and do-it-yourself; home improvement, home decor and domestic goods; consumer electronics, baby care, pet care, toys, personal care and sporting goods. These are just a few of the non-grocery retail channels that are marketing a growing variety of store brand items. Store brands continue to represent outstanding value for consumers. Shoppers could save an estimated $44 billion a year by buying store brand products over national brands, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, while market basket research by PLMA consistently reveals that shoppers can save about one-third on a basic food and household items in a typical supermarket by opting for the store brand over national brands.

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