With inflation at its highest level in three decades, consumers are looking for alternatives to cut costs in supermarkets, leading to a growing demand for private label and premium items. It is in food products that this exchange is most noticeable, with sales of so-called white label items already weighing more than 46.5%, equivalent to 3237.8 million euros, according to Nielsen IQ Scantrends, referring to the period of January to November.
During the review period, the weight of the so-called white brands increased by 17.6% compared to the same period, but the four-week analysis shows that the data grows by more than 22% each month, reaching 25.8% and 25 .2% in October and November.
For example, the total share, in value, of white brands increased to 39.8% in 2022, against the 36.9% verified in the same period of 2021. This means that for every 10 euros spent in the supermarket, four were private. label articles from distribution chains. They generated a total turnover of 4,276 million euros.
In the food segment, the weight of white brands on the Portuguese bill increased by 18.3% between January and November, compared to total spending growth in this category of 10.9% over the same period.
Translated into product typologies, this means that of the 4308 million euros that the Portuguese spent on groceries between January and November (11% more than the previous year, which corresponds to more than 429 million euros remaining in supermarkets and hypermarkets), 47% was private label or first price items, for a total amount of 2025 million euros.
growing market
For dairy products, the value growth compared to 2021 is 12% to 1,848 million euros (in a market that remained stable in 2021, with no evolution compared to 2020). White brands already represent 41.3% of the total and are worth 763.2 million. In frozen products, the option for cheaper items already accounts for 55.8% of spending in this category: that’s almost €450 million of the €805.8 million that families paid for frozen products.
Overall, Nielsen’s IQ data shows that the fast-moving consumer goods market is growing 9.1% to EUR 10,744 million, 898 million more than in January-November 2021. Prices, due to the rise in inflation ( which was 10.2% in November and is estimated to be 9.8% in December, and no more household consumption.
Proof of this is the fact that categories such as alcoholic beverages and household hygiene, but also, albeit to a lesser extent, personal hygiene are losing out on supermarket bills. Alcoholic beverages lost almost a percentage point and are now worth only 10.2% of consumer spending, which in practice amounts to a loss of 100 million euros in 2022 compared to the previous year. Household hygiene items lost 0.3 percentage point to 7.9% of total purchases. EUR 848.8 million is spent in this category, EUR 32 million less than what it would be if the share remained at 8.2% compared to the previous year. In personal hygiene, the loss is only one tenth to 10.2%, but it is equivalent to about 20 million euros.
Source: DN
