Change - Wisconsin Grocers Association

W H A T ’ S I N A
Everything! A growing number of consumers view
private label grocery products as a better value.
Written
exclusively
for the WGA
by Sharyn
Alden
Private label
products not only
offer quality taste
and performance,
but the savings
associated with
buying private
labels can add up
to a huge difference
for many shoppers.
Oh the joys of private labels!
As the economy slackens, many consumers
are discovering (or rediscovering) the big
benefits of store brands private label
products. Private label products not only
offer quality taste and performance, but the
savings associated with buying private labels
can add up to a huge
difference for many
shoppers.
Still, not every grocery
customer zeroes in on
store brands. In part,
that’s due to the false
perception that private
label products may not be
as good as their pricier
counterparts.
But with the economic
downturn, there’s a swing
in the opposite direction.
The potential big savings
that a family may realize
is just one reason more
grocery shoppers are
actively seeking out
private label products.
The Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board recently reported that IRI,
a research firm that collects grocery store
data, said 75 percent of U.S. consumers rank
private label products as excellent in overall
quality. A recent Nielsen survey also
confirmed the growing trend toward private
label products. They reported 62 percent of
consumers felt store brands are just as good
as name brands.
At the same time, Consumer Reports said
when consumers buy store brands they can
potentially save anywhere from 20 to 50
percent depending on what items they
purchase.
In December, the NBC’s Today Show took
that premise one step further. They set out
to see if they could “trick” a family, which
did not routinely buy store brands, into
becoming private label fans.
So for one week, the family used and
consumed products that said they were
name brands. But all the labels on the
products had been switched by the NBC
staff. All the products the mother bought
that week were actually private labels. After
the week-long experiment the mother said
that in the vast majority of the cases her
family couldn’t tell the difference between
private label and name brands.
The other big revelation was this: by buying
only store brands they saved about 25
percent off their grocery bill. The family
plans on switching to store brands from now
on as they estimate they will save a
whopping $3,000 a year.
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
2008 Year End Review WISCONSIN GROCER 19