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Private label brands had record sales in 2024

Kristin Schwab Jan 24, 2025

Consumers have been feeling fickle about the economy. And that kind of unease is reflected in how they shop.

New figures from the Private Label Manufacturers Association shows store brand sales — those are names like Target’s Everspring or Costco’s Kirkland Signature — hit an all-time high in 2024.

Shoppers traditionally turn to private labels when they’re looking to save money on items that feel sort of ho-hum. Paper towels. Glass cleaner. Beans.

But Matt Hamory, a grocery consultant at Alix Partners, said he’s seen a shift.

“There’s a big uptick in customers being willing and in fact interested to buy prepared foods, chilled foods of those sorts of, you know, fresher, warm it up, ready to eat,” said Hamory.

Refrigerated foods was the fastest growing private label category last year, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association. And Hamory said that shows people trust retailers enough to buy their house brand of perishable foods.

Part of that trust is because of the sheer growth of national chains like Walmart and Kroger, and how well they’ve gotten to know their shoppers. 

“The retailer decides what the flavor profile would be, the quality,” said Hamory. “And effectively what they’re doing there is they are taking a couple of steps further in building their customer relationship.” 

It’s part of the reason why stores like Trader Joe’s and ALDI have cult followings. But not all generic products are a slam dunk.

“Retailers have, in most cases, just one chance to get it right,” said Natalie Kotlyar, who leads retail and consumer products at BDO.

One low performing tub of dishwasher pods is enough to deter people from making the leap to laundry detergent or even trickier categories like shampoo. Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, a professor of marketing at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said personal care is an area generics have yet to conquer.

“Private labels are still so mostly based on logic, you know, on rationality,” said Steenkamp. “And in personal care people are actually purchasing a dream, they’re purchasing emotion.”

Something that feels aspirational, or like a simple pleasure. For Hamory at Alix Partners, that’s a crispy can of Diet Coke. 

“You know, I don’t have it all the time, but when I do I love it and I won’t take anything else for it,” said Hamory.

With certain purchases, brand loyalty is hard to break.

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