Amazon’s private label ranks as most threatening to national brands

According to branded consumer goods executives, Amazon’s private label strategy poses the biggest threat to them in the year ahead, with Walmart and Target following somewhat closely behind.

In a sneak peak at the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual "Trends survey," launching in the new year, the organization gauged how national brands are feeling on a range of topics such as changes in their marketing budgets, how they feel about working with certain retailers, direct-to-consumer marketing and more. 

Members of the organization can see the special report here.

In regards to how they feel about the threat of private brands, the survey found that a little over half of the respondents said Amazon posed the biggest threat, compared to nearly 43% fearing Walmart, and 31.5% hesitant about the big red bullseye of Target.

With the success of Target’s Good & Gather brand, it’s a little surprising the number wasn’t a bit higher, but not as surprising as Walgreens with only about 2% of executives finding them to be a threat and even more surprising with Ahold Delhaize earning no votes. However, this is more likely a reflection of the general power that Amazon, Walmart and Target wield, as opposed to the general nature and quality of the company’s private brand products. 

Some other interesting results in the study include nearly 70% of the respondents said their companies were already providing a DTC experience or were working on a strategy. Also, nearly 60% of respondents were concerned with how retailers were using store locations as e-commerce fulfillment centers and how that would impact their product. 

Lastly, 32% of respondents in the survey said their company was looking into partnering with Walmart or Amazon to provide the retailers with an exclusive brand.