Despite inflation, Alsatians and Bretons remain champions of local brands

Alsace, once again champion of local consumption. Pastas, sausages, beers, mustard… According to data from panelist Circana obtained by BFM BusinessAlsatians are the largest buyers of local brands*, closely followed by Bretons, Basques, Savoyards and Franco-Commanders.

In the Lower Rhine, in first place in the national ranking, local brands account for 8.1% of the turnover of purchases of consumer goods (PGC) and fresh self-service products (FLS) in hypermarkets and supermarkets from January to August 2023. But inflation has left its mark: this figure decreases 0.3 points compared to the same period of the previous year. It stands at 7% in the neighboring Haut-Rhin, that is, 0.2 points less from one year to the next.

In the top 10, we find Finisterre (6.8%, -0.3 points), Côtes-d’Armor (5.9%, -0.4 points), Morbihan (5.5%, -0.3 points ), Pyrénées-Atlantiques (4.8%, -0.2 point), Jura (4.6%, -0.2 point), Haute-Savoie (4.4%, -0.2 point), Savoy (4, 3%, -0.1 point) and Doubs (4.2%, -0.2 point). Regions with a strong cultural and culinary identity, but that also have a production system dense enough to allow the distribution of local brands in a large number of categories.

“It’s not so bad after all.”

At the national level, local brands fell 0.1 points from one year to the next (2.5% of national consumption). Although driven by the inflationary context, their turnover only increased by 5.3%, compared to 6.5% for national brands and even 18.5% for private label brands (MDD). Local brands, manufactured mainly by SMEs, “have been less successful in passing on price increases in trade negotiations,” he explains.

In terms of volumes, local brands showed a drop of 4.9% in the first eight months of the year. If they do better than national brands (-7.5%), it is significantly worse than private brands (+2.5%), the largest beneficiaries of inflation. In addition to consumption and reduced sales, it is above all about “the rationalization of the assortment” carried out by distributors who “do not skimp on local brands,” highlights Emily Mayer.

Yonne and Dordogne

However, some departments have experienced a very strong evolution, even abnormal compared to the national average, since the beginning of the year. In the Dordogne, where local brands represent only 2.4% of consumption, their turnover increased by more than 16% during the first eight months, while volumes lost only 0.5%. Quite the opposite in Yonne, where turnover fell by 9.3%, while volumes plummeted by more than 20%.

It is the rationalization of the assortment by distributors (in the face of inflation, they reduce the number of items on the shelves to reduce costs) that explains this strong evolution. In the départements où l’on compte peu de marques locales dans les supermarchés, le moindre retrait ou ajout de quelques références provoque des oscillations notables, au contraire de l’Alsace ou de la Bretagne, où les marques références sont installées un peu partout dans the rays.

In Yonne, according to Circana, there is an average of 144 references of local brands in a supermarket. During the first eight months of the year, an average of 10 references were removed from shelves, which automatically caused a drop in sold volumes. In the Dordogne, where there are an average of 186 references, only two of them have been removed from the shelves, which keeps volumes at the same level and causes turnover to skyrocket due to inflation.

On the contrary, the withdrawal of around twenty references in the Lower Rhine only had a minor effect in this department, which has an average of 540 references of local brands in a supermarket.

*Brand that generates more than 50% of its turnover in a single region, based on the 22 administrative regions that existed before the 2015 reform