Private brands winning over consumers during pandemic

Pandemic shopping is providing private brands “a moment,” per a new CNN story.

The feature, despite initially characterizing store brands as an “unwanted second choice,” goes on to point out that retailers are seeing large sales increases in their store brands, assuming shoppers are forced to stock up on whatever they can get their hands on.

The story quotes Richard Galanti, CFO of Costco, saying the retailer has seen increases of its private label items, particularly in the essential categories, and it cites research from AlixPartners that says in a survey of 1,000 consumers in late March, roughly 25% of those consumers tried a store brand product for the first time with a third expecting to stick with it.

Natural Grocers was quoted in the article too, as it has seen store brand sales outpace its branded items by 40% in the second quarter. 

Perhaps, though, more than simply being the last item on the shelf, private brands are continuing to have a moment because in a beaten-down economy, shoppers are looking for value. And the reason consumers stick around is product quality.

Check out the full piece here.