The Attractiveness of Private Label

Buying Private Label used to mean that you were frugal or cheap, but now everyone’s fine with it – what changed?

Private-label food and beverage has become one of the most attractive growth opportunities in retail, evolving from a lower-priced substitute into a credible brand proposition in its own right.

Shopper preferences are also strengthening the outlook. Value remains a primary purchase driver, but the definition of value has expanded beyond the lowest price to include quality, taste, convenience, trust, and product performance. This is particularly important as younger shoppers become more receptive to private label and consumers across income levels look for ways to manage grocery costs without making noticeable compromises.

Innovation is further boosting the segment’s attractiveness. Retailers are developing differentiated products across premium, natural, organic, functional, indulgent, and culturally inspired platforms—often responding to emerging trends faster than established national brands. For retailers, this creates stronger margins, greater control over assortment and pricing, and products competitors can’t directly compare.

The long-term opportunity is therefore broader than offering inexpensive alternatives: successful private-label portfolios can strengthen retailer loyalty, fill unmet category needs, establish credibility across multiple price tiers, and compete directly with national brands on value, quality, and innovation.

Private Label: From Boring to Fun

Private Label products have evolved throughout the years. They were once seen as lower quality, but the price was attractive, and they were “good enough”; that has changed. Now more than ever, private label products can be seen as trendy, no longer an embarrassment if they’re seen in your pantry.

They go beyond basic, bringing unique flavors and functionality. Private label products these days are on trend, capturing the shopper’s current cravings.

Additionally, the packaging for these products has changed – they don’t look like generics; they look like they could rival national brand items. All of this has played into the rise of private label as consumers try to keep grocery bills down.

Shopper Preferences

More Households Are Buying Private Label More Frequently, Signaling Broader Long-term Adoption Beyond Temporary Trade-down Behavior.

When we break down what’s driving year-over-year private label growth, one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen over the past few years is that private label purchases have become more habitual rather than purely economic. While inflation initially accelerated adoption, most recent dollar growth now comes from existing households buying private label more frequently, followed by continued household penetration.

This shift matters because it suggests private label is becoming part of shoppers’ regular routines, rather than simply a trade-down option when prices are high. For retailers, the opportunity is to retain and grow that behavior by continuing to innovate and offer differentiated products, and not just compete on lower prices.

The categories contributing most to this growth are largely everyday, high-frequency staples, including cheese, milk, bottled water, eggs, fresh bread, household goods, and frozen and refrigerated meat.

Private Label is expanding beyond traditional value shoppers, with younger shoppers driving adoption.
Source: January 2026 SPINS survey of total U.S. shoppers, “Compared to 2024, have you purchased more, less, or the same amount of the items listed below?” – Private Label/store-brand Products (n = 1043)

Historically, private label has appealed primarily to budget-conscious households. Today, we’re seeing broader adoption, particularly among higher-income households and younger generations.

Higher-income households show the highest adoption rates, suggesting shoppers increasingly view private label as a quality option. Younger generations are also leading private label adoption. When we look at where these shoppers are driving volume, younger generations and higher-income households are contributing most to growth in everyday staples like eggs, protein, refrigerated dairy, fresh bread, and household products.

Again, private label is no longer just a value play—it’s becoming a mainstream choice and part of the shopper’s basket across income levels and generations.

Gen Z and millennials are driving private label growth, contributing 81% of year-over-year gains despite representing just 17% of shoppers. Retailers should think beyond traditional value messaging and focus on innovation, convenience, and premium experiences, as these topics resonate with younger shoppers.
Source: SPINS Trilens Panel: Total US – All Outlets (Powered By Circana), Private Label Total Departments, 52 Weeks Ending 6/14/2026

Gen Z is emerging as a particularly important driver of future private label growth- when we break it down by department, they are over-indexing on contribution to dollar growth across nearly every department shown. Their impact is especially important in Refrigerated and Beverages, while Millennials over-index in Frozen.

As younger shoppers move into higher-spending life stages, retailers can build private label loyalty now and carry that behavior forward, particularly in high-frequency categories like refrigerated and fresh products that are already driving private label growth.
Source: SPINS Trilens Panel: Total US – All Outlets (Powered By Circana), Private Label Total Departments, 52 Weeks Ending 6/14/26

Private Label Performance

Recent private label performance is being shaped heavily by refrigerated categories, suggesting that commodity deflation and competitive pricing pressure may be weighing on results more than a broad decline in consumer demand.

Private Label dollar share held steady at roughly 22%, with private label achieving +3.1% growth, signaling structural share gains even as short-term momentum fades. The quarterly trend chart tells a clear deceleration story: dollar growth peaked around +6.1% in early 2025 and swung to -2.9% in the 12 weeks ending 6/14/2026.

Unit growth followed a similar arc, peaking at +3.6% in early 2024, briefly going negative, and closing the latest period at −1.3%. 90% of dollar losses in the last 12 weeks are attributed to the Refrigerated department — specifically eggs, cheese, milk, alt dairy, and creamers. Unit and dollar trends are diverging in the latest quarter — worth monitoring whether this reflects mix changes or pricing adjustments.

Source: SPINS Natural Channel+ MULO (powered by Circana) | Brands: Private Label + Private Label Organic, All Departments, 52-week ending 6/14/26 |*Meat & Seafood Does Not Include PLU/Free Weight items 

Fresh Proteins dominate growth — Prepared foods are strong — Center store staples are performing well.

Refrigerated (RF) Beef Fresh leads dollar growth but isn’t in the top unit growth list — indicating high price per unit and/or price increases driving dollar growth. RF Beef Fresh alone accounts for nearly $1 billion in growth, followed by Seafood Fresh and Chicken Fresh. Together, refrigerated fresh proteins represent the largest Private Label opportunity.

Refrigerated Entrees lead unit growth, showing strong volume expansion in convenience meals. RF Entrees ($467M), RF Sushi ($237M), and RF Handhelds ($148M) show consumers are embracing Private Label for convenience meals. Cheese is a strong unit performer (#2 category) but not in the top 10 for dollars — a staple item with steady volume.

Seasonings rank high in units (#3) but lower in dollars — high-frequency, low-price purchases. Coffee ($357M), Baked Goods ($244M), and Seasonings ($117M) round out the growth story.

Looking at how pricing has impacted Private Label’s performance. Over the last two years, National Brands ARP has outpaced the CPI Food at Home Index. In comparison, Private Label ARP has seen increases below the CPI Food at Home. Retailers leaned into private label pricing during the holidays in 2025.

www.bls.gov/cpi & SPINS Natural Expanded Channel + Multi-Outlet (MULO) (Powered by Circana), All Departments (Exclude Eggs), 2-Year Trended by 4-Week Data Ending  6/14/2026

Two Years ago, for the 4 weeks ending June 16th 2024, Private Label’s Average Retail Price was $3.72. Today, Private Label ARP is $3.86, a $ 0.14 increase over the two years.

Over the same period, National Brands Average Retail Price increased by $ 0.20 to $5.00, which is $1.14 more than Private Label. This has widened the value gap for Private Label by 6% compared to National Brand offerings. We will monitor Private Label pricing in the future to see how pricing trends play out. I am interested to see whether Average Retail Price Increases on Private Label creep back up to align with CPI Food at Home & National Brand increases, or whether retailers continue to use Private Label as a lever to provide value to shoppers across income brackets. 

Value Drivers

Economists are shifting from describing the United States as a “K-shaped economy” to an “E-shaped economy.” In a K-shaped economy, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. An E-shaped economy adds nuance by showing how the middle class is being squeezed between those two ends. The top line of the E represents higher-income shoppers who feel comfortable spending and may evaluate private label based on attributes rather than price alone, such as added protein or no-added-sugar offerings that national brands are not currently solving for in the set.

The bottom line of the E, lower-income households, are shopping Private Label for the value it offers in their basket. This value option is historically what people have assumed Private Label’s role in the category is.

The middle line in an E-Shaped economy represents the middle class, and the line is trending down. The middle class feels squeezed in the current economy and is looking for additional ways to live within their means month to month. While squeezed, this shopper still has attributes they prioritize. This is where Premium Private Label offerings add value.

These shoppers may prioritize Organic or a clean ingredient deck. Traditional Private-Label offerings don’t meet their needs, so they pay a premium for the National Brand with the attributes that matter to them. We have seen an increase in premium private-label offerings from National Retailers to meet this need.

Source: SPINS Natural Channel+ MULO (powered by Circana), Brands: Private Label + Private Label Organic, Dairy & Plant Based Dairy Alternatives Other, Product Type: Cream Cheese & PB Cream Cheese, 52 Weeks Ending 6/14/26

On the lower end of the E-Shaped Economy, 60% of shoppers focused on price comparison, and 43% decreased trips to the store. These are shoppers who have shifted from exploration to efficiency in their baskets.

Using cream cheese as our example, a product like Great Value Cream Cheese can be a value offering for the shoppers in this category. In the middle and top end of the E, these consumers shop with intentionality beyond price and redefine premium as an attribute profile. National Retailers, like Kroger and Walmart, offer tiers of Private Label in categories. Walmart launched bettergoods Dairy Free & Regular Cream Cheese as a premium private label option. These products have a clean label, with no gums, stabilizers, or artificial ingredients, but cost more.

Kroger has a value cream cheese option, as well as an Organic Cream Cheese available in their Simple Truth brand. Premium Private Label creates a third option for shoppers in-store, outside of value private label and national brand offerings.

These 3 tiers allow a retailer to meet each shopper where they are.

How a Premium Private Label launch disrupted

Premium Private Label is disrupting national category pricing. Using Datasembly, we analyzed the impact of a Premium PVL launch by comparing pricing across thousands of brick-and-mortar locations.

Source: Datasembly Dairy Free Cream Cheese & Total US Dairy Free Cream Cheese Historical List Price Trends 2 Years ending Week of Sun May 10 – Sat May 16, 2026

Before the launch of the Premium Private Label Cream Cheese, Retailer A had a Conventional National Brand on Shelf with an Average Retail Price above $7. This was above the Conventional National Brand’s ARP across the Total US, which was right around $7.

Retailer A had a Natural National Brand on Shelf, with an Average Retail Price around $4. This price was below the Total US ARP but in line with the Premium Private Label options available across the Total US.

When Retailer A launched a Premium Private Label Cream Cheese Offering, we saw an immediate response: the Conventional National Brand was priced competitively with the Premium Private Label Option. Pricing in the category is now around $4 at Retailer A for an 8oz package of the Conventional National Brand, the Natural National Brand, and the Premium Private Label offering. We have also seen the Conventional National Brands’ ARP trend down in Total US since the Premium Private Label Cream Cheese Launch.

This shows how a successful Premium Private Label launch can drive category value and provide offerings that meet consumers across all three tiers of the E-Shaped Economy.

Innovation in Today’s Marketplace

To compete with national brands, shoppers of all demographics expect options that reflect today’s hottest trends and preferences, along with value.

Source: July 2025 SPINS survey of total U.S. Gen Z and Millennial shoppers aged 13-44 (n = 1000); Total US Natural Expanded +MULO (Powered by Circana), 52 Weeks Ending 6/14/2025

Three key forces are driving this shift in shopper decision-making: intentional eating, global flavors, and nutrient density.

Intentional Eating:

About 40% of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers now follow a specific diet, and they’re paying close attention to ingredients. Many are actively avoiding things like corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and sugar alcohols. That means clean labels are increasingly becoming a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator.

Global Flavors:

Shoppers are looking for new and exciting flavors inspired by cuisines from around the world, and we’re seeing that demand show up in mainstream categories like pasta sauce, sports drinks, wellness bars, and ice cream.

 Nutrient Density:

Demand for high-protein products continues to surge across most categories. We’re seeing strong growth in supplements, ready-to-drink coffee and tea, breakfast foods, and even soda. At the same time, fiber is gaining momentum throughout the store. They’re becoming everyday expectations for wellness.

Taken together, these trends create a clear roadmap for innovation. Shoppers want products that align with their wellness goals, deliver meaningful nutrition, and introduce exciting flavor experiences—all while providing the value they expect from private brands.

Innovation Pathways: Conscious Consumption

Conscious Consumption offers an innovative pathway as shopper preferences continue to shift toward sustainable, Functional, Clean, and Quality Products.

Source: 1. SPINS Natural and MULO (Powered by Circana), L52W Ending 6/14/2025; 2. SPINS Survey Conscious Consumption (1/26, N=1,042)

The good news for private label is that it’s uniquely positioned to deliver on those high expectations. Natural products grew 8% faster than conventional products in MULO, and nearly half of these shoppers are buying more private label than they did a year ago.

This suggests consumers no longer see private label as a compromise. They’re actively choosing it.

Shoppers are still balancing their values with their wallets. More than 90% are seeking values-oriented products, but a third say their financial situation has worsened year over year. The opportunity isn’t just to innovate around conscious consumption. It’s to offer those benefits at a price shoppers can afford. Maintaining a strong value-tier assortment remains critical.

And retailers are already acting on these trends. Aldi is removing 44 ingredients from its private label portfolio, Walmart is eliminating synthetic dyes across its private label food brands, and Kroger is expanding into protein-focused private label offerings. These are all examples of retailers responding to evolving consumer priorities. The key is using data to distinguish lasting consumer shifts from temporary trends and invest where demand is truly building.

Innovation Pathways: Fast Follows

The next pathway is fast follows, which is all about speed. Instead of private label simply reacting to the market, retailers identify trends early and bring trend-forward products to shelf quickly. That shifts private label from a value-only proposition to more of a retailer-as-a-brand model.

The upside is significant. When retailers consistently show up with products consumers are excited about, shoppers begin to see private label as a first choice rather than a fallback option. It can drive trial, create excitement, and attract shoppers who may not have traditionally considered private label.

Erewhon is a good example of this strategy in action. The retailer has built an expansive private-label vitamins and supplements portfolio that goes beyond core categories like protein and into emerging trends like sea moss. Today, nearly 30% of Erewhon’s VMS sales come from private label, compared to about 8% across the broader channel. That approach has helped drive a VMS growth rate that’s roughly double the Natural channel overall. We also see this in coffee. Ready-to-drink coffee continues to outperform traditional beans and grounds, with RTD units up 3% year over year while beans and grounds declined 2%. Sprouts moved quickly to capitalize on that shift, launching a private-label refrigerated cold brew in January 2026. It’s a good example of identifying where consumers are going and getting there quickly with a private-label solution.

Source: SPINS Natural and MULO (Powered by Circana), L52W Ending 3/22/2026

That said, speed comes with some risk. Not every trend has staying power, and not every trend resonates equally across channels. Chasing the wrong trend can result in costly inventory and complexity, so retailers need to be selective and use category and shopper data to identify the opportunities most likely to stick.

Innovation Pathways: Limited-Time Offerings

Limited-Time Offerings (LTOs) let you test the viability of a trend while driving customer excitement and loyalty – a low-commitment way to explore what sticks.

Some advantages include Staying Fresh Without the Risk by testing emerging trends before making a permanent commitment and learning what resonates with shoppers in real-world settings. They also create excitement and urgency: new drops give shoppers a reason to check back often, and Limited availability can boost both trial and repeat visits. This must be balanced against the trade-off that LTOs can increase demand on R&D, sourcing, and store teams. Success depends on strong execution across the business. Products that are too similar to existing offerings may shift sales rather than grow them.  The best LTOs bring in new occasions, customers, or spending.

Source: 1. SPINS Trilens Panel: Total US – Trader Joe’s (Powered By Circana), Private Label Total Departments 2. Marks and Spencer 2025 Annual Strategic Report

Trader Joe’s has built anticipation into the shopping experience. Customers know there will always be something new to discover, which helps keep visit frequency high. They constantly refresh seasonal and limited-time items. Shoppers know products may not be around for long, creating a reason to return.

As a result, 76% of shoppers revisit the retailer, outperforming several natural and specialty competitors.

Rather than relying on a few major launches, Marks & Spencer keeps innovation flowing year-round, giving shoppers repeated reasons to return. They launched more than 1,400 new items in 2025, many of them limited-time or seasonal offerings.

The goal was to create a consistent stream of news that keeps customers engaged year-round.

Conclusion

Private label is positioned to remain an influential force in food and beverage, but its next phase of growth will depend on disciplined execution. Retailers must identify where an owned brand can address an unmet shopper need, offer a clear point of difference, and deliver consistent quality across every interaction. Simply undercutting national brands on price will be insufficient as consumers increasingly expect distinctive products, relevant benefits, and a recognizable brand identity.

The strongest private-label portfolios will balance accessible pricing with targeted innovation, using shopper and category insights to guide assortment, positioning, and product development. This creates a meaningful opportunity for retailers to deepen customer relationships and improve profitability, while challenging national brands to demonstrate why they deserve a premium.

Private Label’s relevance continues to grow for three key reasons. First, it resonates across generations, with younger shoppers helping fuel adoption. Second, it has proven resilient, benefiting from market shifts such as supply challenges, pricing changes, and brand exits. And third, innovation is expanding the role of private label beyond value, as retailers increasingly compete through trends, premium offerings, and limited-time launches. Together, these factors position private label for continued growth and importance.

Bottom of Form

Sources

https://www.spins.com/data/pos-data/
https://www.spins.com/solutions/trilens-panel/
https://www.spins.com/solutions/growth-consulting-enterprise/
https://datasembly.com/
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/2025-05/
https://www.bls.gov/cpi

Attribute Ticker
Data Ticker
Below we break out total MULO with Natural Products, Total MULO Base, Total Natural Expanded with Natural Products, and Total Natural Expanded Base.

Looking for more information? Please get in touch with the SPINS Account Manager for PRESENCE, Hans De Schaaf, at hdeschaaf@spins.com.