Private label has shed its generic reputation and become the structural winner of the value economy. Store brands set records in both sales and share in 2025, growing nearly three times as fast as national brands, according to Circana data released by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PMLA), pushing retailers to invest further in quality and exclusivity. This FAQ covers private label's scale, where it is winning, and what the shift means for retailers and brand manufacturers.

What are private label brands?

Private label brands, also called store brands, are products owned and sold by retailers rather than national manufacturers, spanning budget staples to premium exclusive lines like Costco's Kirkland Signature and Target's Good & Gather. The category is setting records: US sales of store brands increased slightly more than $9 billion to a record $282.8 billion in 2025, growing 3.3% versus 1.2% for national brands, according to Circana data released by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA). Private label gives retailers margin advantages, pricing control, and products shoppers can only get in their stores, which converts value-seeking into loyalty.

How much market share do store brands hold?

Store brands hold all-time-high share on both measures. Private label dollar share reached 21.3% in 2025, up from 20.9% in 2024, while unit share hit a record 23.5%, per PLMA and Circana data. The five-year trajectory shows compounding momentum: dollar sales increased $64.8 billion from 2021 to 2025, a 30% gain, while unit sales advanced 2.7 billion units. Store brand unit volume rose by 434.3 million units to 68.7 billion in 2025. Roughly one in four food and non-grocery products sold in US retail outlets now carries a retailer's own brand, per PMLA, a level that makes private label strategy central to merchandising rather than a discount sideline.

Which categories lead private label growth?

Growth concentrates in fresh, beverages, and pet categories. By dollar sales, refrigerated led all departments in 2025 at 6.1% growth, followed by beverages (4.8%) and pet care (3.7%), per PLMA and Circana. By unit sales, pet care led at 5.4%, with liquor up 4.4% and beverages up 2.3%. The pattern matters: these are not commodity paper-goods categories where private label always lived, but quality-signal categories where shoppers once defaulted to national brands. Store-brand wins in refrigerated foods, pet care, and beverages indicate consumers now trust retailer brands in purchases they care about, which expands the addressable share well beyond traditional staples.

Why are private label brands winning?

Economic pressure opened the door, and retailer investment is keeping shoppers inside:

• Sustained value-seeking. Energy-driven inflation continues to erode purchasing power and cloud consumer demand, pushing households toward lower-priced equivalents.
• Value-built retailers gaining share. Costco's Q2 2026 results show a model built for a K-shaped economy, with rising memberships proving value still wins, while Kroger is investing in price to defend share.
• Quality repositioning. Premium store-brand lines convert trial driven by price into repeat purchases driven by preference.

This combination suggests share gains will persist even if inflation cools, because trial converts to habit.

What does private label growth mean for national brands?

National brands face a compounding share problem. Every point of shelf share retailers shift to their own brands also shifts negotiating leverage: retailers control placement, pricing, and increasingly the retail media inventory national brands must buy to stay visible. For brand manufacturers, the response options are sharper differentiation through innovation, price-pack architecture that protects entry price points, and in some cases manufacturing private label themselves to capture the volume they cannot stop.

How should retailers and brands approach private label in 2026?

Both sides should treat store brands as a strategic battleground rather than a pricing tactic:

• Retailers: premiumize the portfolio. Tiered store-brand lines, from value to premium, capture trade-down shoppers and keep them as conditions improve.
• Retailers: lead with growth categories. Refrigerated, beverages, and pet care show shoppers accept store brands in quality-sensitive purchases.
• Brands: defend with innovation, not just promotion. Price promotions alone cannot offset a 3-to-1 growth gap; differentiated products and formats can.
• Brands: protect entry price points. Smaller packs and opening price tiers keep budget-pressed shoppers in the franchise.
• Both: watch loyalty data. Store brands are exclusive by definition, making them a loyalty asset retailers will keep investing in.

We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.

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