In France, private label has been losing momentum for three consecutive years, according to the most recent market research.
Nielsen statistics show that private label in France has been shrinking slightly for the past three years. It appears, for the time being, to have grown as far as it possibly can, and to have entered a new period of stagnant maturity, hovering at about a 28-per-cent command of market share.
A possible explanation, offered by LSA, the French retail analysis body, is that the sheer ubiquity of discounts effected by grocers means that private-label goods aren't necessarily always perceived as superior value for money. The ordinary French shopper sees discounts as omnipresent in the nation's biggest retailers, and often finds it difficult to deduce where the best value for money can be accessed.
The new figures show that own-label organic foodstuffs (Carrefour's Bio range is among the most notable), however, are bucking the trend, i.e. gaining market share over branded products.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Peter Donnelly.
