Carrrefour: strong private label range
Retailers across Europe are reporting strong growth in sales of private label products, according to Verdict.
In the research company’s latest report, European Grocery Retailers 2009, Verdict claims significant chances lie in ramping up private label development in the current downturn.
“One of things that is doing very well in the present climate is private label,” said Simon Chinn, Verdict analyst and report co-author.
“All the major grocery retailers in Europe are reporting a strong uptake in private label,” he said.
Chinn told Global Convenience Store Focus that private label was benefiting Casino’s Franprix and Leader Price formats. Leader Price is a discount format and predominantly own label. Franprix is a convenience format with around 80-90% private label.
Chinn said private label has helped Metro’s Real format in the last quarter of 2008.
El Cortes Ingles' Alidada private label range
In Spain, meanwhile, El Cortes Ingles has recently launched a value own label called Aliada (allied).
According to Chinn, it is designed to compete with discounters plus Hacendado, a value own label offered by rival retailer Mercadona.
‘There is a definite trend for people trading down,” said Chinn, who said there was also a demand for private label within convenience.
In the UK, Tesco launched its discount range last year and last month, Booths, a 26-strong food store chain in the north of England, introduced a range of discount brands to help shoppers beat the credit crunch.
Booths’ discount brands range includes more than 170 products from rice and biscuits to hairspray and soap, as well as coffee and whisky. According to the retailer, each product has been competitively price matched for quality and taste against other leading retailers’ own brand products.
Items include a collection of toiletries including handwash, mouthwash, shower gel and shampoo, with prices starting from 98p. Household cleaning products and soft drinks retail from 49p.