Private label products witnessed a 4.7% increase in dollar sales to $236.3 billion in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to PLMA’s 2024 Private Label Report.
Sales increased by $10.1 billion between 1 January to 31 December 2023, compared to the preceding year.
The performance of store brands exceeded national brands, which grew 3.4% in dollar sales, the study noted.
The annual report analyses store brand and national brand sales in unit and dollar sales in key categories and is based on sales figures from the PLMA/Circana Unify+ market data portal.
Compared to 2019, annual store brand dollar sales increased by $60.2 billion in 2023, registering a 34% increase, the study found. Store brand dollar share rose 1.2 points to a record 18.9%, PLMA noted.
During the four years, store brand unit sales were ahead by 500 million, and unit share improved by 0.8 points to 20.7% – also a new high.
'Healthier Than Ever'
"Overall, the industry is healthier than ever," PLMA president Peggy Davies stated in the report. "One of every five food or non-food grocery products sold across the US carries the retailer’s name or own brand and was supplied by a store brand manufacturer."
Nine out of 10 categories that Circana tracks showed growth over the year before, according to the report. Tobacco was an exception and continued to trend downward overall.
Highest year-on-year growth was seen in beauty (+0.5%); general food (+10%); beverages (+8.9%); home care (+8.7%); frozen, (+4.4%); and general merchandise (+4%).
Last year, a study from Barclays revealed that private label is gaining share in 80% of grocery categories, with store brands seeing the most momentum in the Drinking Yoghurt, Detergent and Ice Cream categories in the EU, and the Disinfectant and Water categories in the US.
