Private Label Manufacturers Association
'World of Private Label' Show Set for May 23-24
The global private brand industry will again meet at PLMA’s “World of Private Label” International Trade Show at the RAI Exhibition Centre, Amsterdam, on May 23-24.
Some 25,000 professionals from more than 120 countries are expected to participate. Exhibitors will be joined by retailers, wholesalers, importers, and others, to examine products, strengthen partnerships, identify innovation in business practices and plan for profitable store brand growth.
Products on display will include fresh, frozen, and refrigerated foods, dry grocery, and beverages as well as non-food categories, including cosmetics, health and beauty, household and kitchen, auto aftercare, garden, and housewares & DIY. The show will also present more than 2,500 exhibiting companies including 50 national and regional pavilions.
For more than 35 years, PLMA’s annual “World of Private Label” International Trade Show has brought retailers and manufacturers together to help them find new products, make new contacts, and discover new ideas that will help their private label programs succeed and grow.
In the past year, private label has increased its position throughout nearly all national markets. The future looks to be bright for store brands as retailers expand internationally and take a larger role in marketing themselves and the products that they sell.
For more information, click here.
For more information, click here.
Tom's Data Drive
Throughout store brands' steady double-digit gains of 2022, which has continued through the first two months of this year, fully 16 of the 17 departments tracked by IRI showed store brand improvement.
One department demonstrated particularly strong sales performance -- Beverages -- a section once considered impenetrable for store brands due to the powerhouse national brands that inhabit it.
But that dominance may be changing. In this extremely competitive department, store brands have been growing at a faster pace than brands for the past 4, 12 and 52 weeks, reported IRI Unify exclusively to PLMA.
The numbers deserve a toast. Total private label beverage sales in 2022 were $12 billion and dollar sales grew by 19.3%. Double digit growth continued into the new year as dollar sales over the past four weeks totaled 18.6%, only a slight dip from the 20% sales growth in the past three months.
The Beverages department is the third largest of the 17 tracked by IRI when it comes to national brand and store brand dollar sales ($130B) and second largest in unit sales with over 40 billion in sales.
The largest category in beverages is bottled water. The category has sales of $6.8 billion in 2022 and dollar sales growth of 23.1%. While dollar sales did slow, from 21.3% over 12 weeks to 20.3% in the past four weeks, it remains the largest dollar sales category in the department.
Water is not the only growth category in this department. When you take a closer look at other areas you see while not everyone is showing growth but the ones gaining sales are especially strong.
For instance, carbonated beverages have increased from 15.8%-dollar sales growth last year to 32.4% in February and 28.9% over the past three months. This growth is also reflected in unit sales, as sales for carbonated beverages grew 4% in the past 4 weeks and 1.2% over the past 12 weeks. While unit sales did dip 2.5% last year, like dollar sales, sales of units of carbonated beverages continued to advance.
Two other growing categories over this period were refrigerated tea/coffee and tea bags. Refrigerated tea/coffee grew from 8.2% in dollar sales last year to 10.7% in the past four weeks. Tea bags had even more dramatic results, as dollar sales went from 5% in 2022 to 12.3% in the past three months to 17.5% in the past four weeks.
Other categories also stood out. These include bottled juices (10%), coffee (15.4%) and ready to drink tea/coffee (15.8%); all had double digit growth in 2022. In the past four weeks, while growth has slowed, it remains positive, ranging from 66.8% for ready to drink tea and coffee to 13.9% for coffee and 10.2% for bottled juices.
Unit sales improvements were also striking. Ready to drink tea/coffee saw units rise from 10.4% in 2022 to 84% over the past 3 months and 75.7% in the past 4 weeks. Coffee unit sales were up 2.8% last year but kept most of that growth in the past four weeks with a 2.5%-unit sales growth.
After decades of being a bottom shelf afterthought in a strong national branded department, store brands are evolving to become a presence if not a player in many parts of the huge Beverages sector.
To find out more IRI Unify data is available to all PLMA members and can be found at plma.com where these statistics and sales of 317 categories and 967 subcategories can be found.
Private Label Enjoys Strong Growth Across Europe
Private label sales grew to a total of €302 billion across the 17 European countries surveyed by NielsenIQ for PLMA’s annual Private Label Yearbook.
In 2022, private label sales grew in all but one of the 17 countries that NielsenIQ analyzed. The highest growth countries in private label share are the Czech Republic (+3.5), Portugal (+2.9), Spain (+2.2) and Hungary (+2.2). Only Switzerland saw a slight decline of 0.5 point. At the same time, it is the country with the highest private label share in Europe, an impressive 52% in value.
Runner up is the Netherlands with an overall value share of 44%. Spain and the UK follow with 43%, Germany (40%) and Portugal (39%). Belgium’s share is 38%, Austria 35%, Denmark 34%, Poland and France 32%. Share is under thirty percent in six of the surveyed countries: Italy and Hungary (28%), Sweden (27%), Greece (23%), Czech Republic (22%) and Norway (21%).
European markets remain some of the biggest Private Label markets globally: compared to 2021, the value share grew by 1.2 percentage point to a record of 37% of the total market.
According to NielsenIQ data, perishable and frozen food, paper products, and ambient food are the top three categories of Private Label value share with an average of 50%. This represents approximately €212.8 billion in sales across the 17 European countries tracked.
This performance demonstrates why PLMA’s “World of Private Label” International Trade Show continues to have record attendance. This year the show will be held May 23-24 at the RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam.
Some 25,000 professionals from more than 120 countries are expected to participate. Products on display will include fresh, frozen and refrigerated foods, dry grocery, and beverages as well as non-food categories, including cosmetics, health and beauty, household and kitchen, auto aftercare, garden, and housewares & DIY. The show will also present more than 2,500 exhibiting companies including 50 national and regional pavilions.
Lunch & Learn, April 27, to Focus on 'How America Eats'
PLMA's popular Lunch and Learn series will return on April 27 with a program titled How America Eats. The latest presentation will shed light on why so many food and beverage trends come and go in the blink of an eye and what is behind this phenomenon.
Elizabeth Horvath, Vice President of Marketing of the Kerry Group, will share new research on what shoppers want from leading food and beverage categories and based on their needs, will provide context on trends retailers and manufacturers should watch for in the year ahead.
Kerry surveyed 5,000 U.S. consumers to understand the effects of the pandemic on their motivations and desires. The results presented by Horvath will reveal what’s driving purchasing habits across categories, gender, and generations. Leading a team of highly skilled Kerry professionals, Horvath drives strategic growth, using creativity and insights to connect needs to solutions.
This will be PLMA’s fourth Lunch & Learn session in 2023. The first was held on January 26 and focused on growing private label sales and hosted by Kyle Patterson, Senior Vice President of Daymon. The session was held February 2 with a review of store brand sales from 2022 by MaryEllen Lynch of IRI. The third was held on February 23 by Gary Stibel of The New England Consulting Group.
Lunch & Learn sessions are conducted online for 60 minutes starting at 12:30 PM EDT. The professional development program is complimentary for all PLMA member manufacturers, brokers, and suppliers as well as for retailers and wholesalers.
To register for any session, please click here or please contact Julia Meehan at education@plma.com for more information.
Tom’s Data Dive - Double Digit Sales Gains Continue into 2023
Store brand sales picked up in January 2023 where they left off in 2022, with double digit dollar gains and increased market share in both dollars and units, per IRI Unify.
Store brand dollar sales increased by 10.1% across all outlets while national brand dollar sales increased only 4.3%, when compared to the same period last year.
The growth of store brands in most departments also continued in January. Among the 17 departments IRI Unify tracks for PLMA all but three saw expanded store brand dollar sales. The Refrigerated department improved the most, up 18.4%. Beverages was next, increasing 17.3%, followed by Bakery (16.3%) and General Food (15.2%). Deli Prepared (14.5%), Liquor (10%) Home Care (9%) and the General Merchandise Department (8.6%) also showed strong growth in the first month of the year. Departments that saw a decrease in store brand dollar sales were Meat, Health, and Tobacco.
Many product categories also showed strong growth continuing from private label’s record sales of 2022. Drinkware (119.4%), Whipped Toppings (36.1%), and Butter/Butter Blends rose 34% in dollar sales. Pet food (33.4%), Cold Cereal (29.3%) and Carbonated Beverages (28%) were also strong in category growth.
Unit share performance continued to be lackluster. All brands shed unit sales during the month, but store brands declined less: minus 3% vs down 5.5% for national brands.
Juan De Paoli, Kroger’s VP of Our Brands, to Speak at PLMA Conference in March
Kroger’s Our Brands VP Juan De Paoli to Speak at PLMA Conference in March
PLMA will hold its Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference next month and the program will feature a wide range of speakers and topics. The conference will be held March 22-24 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando.
The event is themed ‘What Does Winning Look Like for Store Brands?’ reflecting the expanding role store brands play in U.S. retailing, particularly in the wake of 2022's record-breaking, double-digit sales increases.
The conference’s keynote speaker is Juan De Paoli, vice president of Our Brands at the Kroger Co., who will take the stage at the breakfast session on Friday, March 24.
De Paoli’s 20-plus years of experience is responsible for driving Kroger's private label vision, strategy and program development and enhance the company’s brand equity, strategic positioning, revenue, and profit across all food, household, pet and personal care products.
Other industry experts who will speak include:
* Kevin Ryan, Founder and CEO, Malachite Strategy and Research, a retail and foodservice-focused insights and innovation agency and former executive at Amazon and General Mills, who will discuss "Beyond the Horizon: Future Forces Impacting Private Label."
* Jim E. Dillard III, Executive V.P and President, Consumer Healthcare Americas, Perrigo plc, formerly a top executive at Altria Group, Inc., will discuss "Winning With Self-Care Brands."
* Roger Davidson, CEO, Oakton Advisory Group LLC, an expert on food trends with 30 years’ experience in merchandising, marketing, operations and global sourcing at Walmart, Wild Oats, SUPERVALU, Ahold USA and HEB, whose topic is "Winning Through Innovation, Infrastructure & Sourcing."
* Judy Clark, CEO of Fresh From Texas, a high-quality, value-added fresh produce solutions provider, who will offer a "Fresh Spin on Winning in Store Brands." With retailers focusing on the perimeter and winning the first twenty steps into the store, Clark will highlight the role of store brands on the fresh produce side.
There will also be a of a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts titled "Store Brands' New World: Meeting the challenges and opportunities of uncertain economic times."
Moderator Michael Sansolo, president, Sansolo Solutions LLC, a food retailing guru and longtime SVP at FMI, will be joined by Brooke Rice, Sr. Director Own Brands at Southeastern Grocers; Tom Becker, Director, Proprietary Brands-US at Circle K; Jorge Flores, Executive Director, Store Brands at CVS Health; Christina Reyes, Senior Manager, Client Insights at SPINS; Joe Mollica II, President at LNK International; and Mark Gilliand, VP, Sales & Marketing at Old Dutch Vinegar and Mustard Co.
To register for the conference please click here or for additional information, contact Carleen Foster at conferences@plma.com
About PLMA
The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1979 to promote the store brands industry. With executive offices in New York and International Council offices in Amsterdam, PLMA represents more than 4,000 member companies worldwide. In addition to the Annual Private Label Trade Show in Chicago and its World of Private Label Trade Show in Amsterdam, PLMA provides annual conferences, executive education and professional development opportunities. Follow PLMA on plma.com, plmainternational.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Weighing Store Brands with IRI’s MaryEllen Lynch
PLMA Live Scores Interview with dunnhumby
The latest edition of PLMA Live features an interview with Erich Kahner, Director of Strategy & Insights at dunnhumby and his thoughts on the company’s surprising results of its latest Retailer Preference Index (RPI) survey.
This year’s RPI was unanticipated as Texas retailer H-E-B took over first place from Amazon as U.S. grocery leader. H-E-B had finished second to Amazon in the previous two years. Overall, Amazon dropped to third place as Costco Wholesaler moved up the list to second place.
The other grocers in the top 10 were Wegmans, Sam’s Club, Market Basket and Amazon Fresh. Trader Joe’s finished in the 8th spot, while WinCo Foods was at No. 9 and BJ’s Wholesale Club in 10th place.
In PLMA Live’s interview with Kahner, Carol Angrisani takes a closer look at the report’s findings and what part store brands may have played in the results. You can watch it at www.plmalive.com
'World of Private Label' Show Set for May 23-24
In about three months the global private brand industry will again meet at PLMA’s “World of Private Label” International Trade Show at the RAI Exhibition Centre, Amsterdam, May 23-24.
Some 25,000 professionals from more than 120 countries are expected to participate. Exhibitors will be joined by retailers, wholesalers, importers, and others, to examine products, strengthen partnerships, identify innovation in business practices and plan for profitable store brand growth.
Products on display will include fresh, frozen and refrigerated foods, dry grocery, and beverages as well as non-food categories, including cosmetics, health and beauty, household and kitchen, auto aftercare, garden, and housewares & DIY. The show will also present more than 2,500 exhibiting companies including 50 national and regional pavilions.
For more than 35 years, PLMA’s annual “World of Private Label” International Trade Show has brought retailers and manufacturers together to help them find new products, make new contacts, and discover new ideas that will help their private label programs succeed and grow.
In the past year, private label has increased its position throughout nearly all national markets. The future looks to be bright for store brands as retailers expand internationally and take a larger role in marketing themselves and the products that they sell.