As grocery chains continue to improve the quality of their private-label products, shoppers are increasingly willing to purchase them. About 41% of shoppers say they frequently buy private-label
goods, up from 36% in 2001 and 12% in 1991, according to a study produced this month by the Private Label Manufacturers Association.
Private-label products are one of the ways a
grocery chain can stand out when all of its competitors sell the same Coca-Cola, Crest and Charmin, according to John B. Lord, professor and chairman of the department of food marketing at St.
Joseph's University in Philadelphia. "Other aspects [of a store's strategy] can be duplicated, but a store brand can't," Lord says.
Information Resources Inc., which supplies
private-label product sales data to the PLMA, says private-label sales came in at $40.9 billion last year. That's only a small increase from $40.6 billion in 2001, but those figures do not include
sales at Wal-Mart, Costco, Trader Joe's or Wegmans. All four are major private-label sellers.
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