4 ways retailers are boosting their private brands

Out-of-stocks and, more recently, inflation have helped fuel a boom in private brand spending in recent months.

That trend is expected to continue, with more than three-quarters (77%) of shoppers who said they bought more store brand products claiming they will continue to do so, according to a recent report from the Food Industry Association (FMI).

The juiced-up sales are happening at a time when consumers are becoming more brand agnostic and zeroing in on product attributes when they shop, said Shelley Balanko, senior vice president at The Hartman Group. Concurrently, grocers are evolving from “private label” products that are essentially cheaper versions of name brands to “private brands” that are competitive with mainstream suppliers in both cost and quality, according to FMI’s Vice President of Industry Relations Doug Baker and research from The Hartman Group.

To keep the momentum going, Baker and Balanko identified four key ways grocers are boosting their private brands.