Walmart owns top 5 private label brands

Numerator, a data and technology company serving the market research sector, has released an updated Private Label Trends Tracker report that provides ongoing insight into private label performance across product sectors, channels and retailers, as well as consumer sentiment among verified private label buyers.

Nearly all U.S. households purchased private-label products in the past 12 months across the grocery, health and beauty, household, and home and garden categories. Private-label products accounted for 24% of total units sold across the top ten product sectors.

Key findings include:

• Almost half (43%) of consumers surveyed buy private label products to save money, but not all are convinced that they offer the same quality. Some 58% of those surveyed believe that own brands offer above-average value for money, but less than 1 in 3 (29%) believe they are as good as well-known brands
• In the top 10 product sectors, private label products accounted for almost a quarter of unit sales volume (24%). The sectors with the largest share of private labels were: Office (38.7%), Home & Garden (32.5%), Tools & Home Improvement (29%) and Household (26.7%). Other sectors analysed were: Food (23.8%), Children (22.7%), Pets (17.6%), Health & Beauty (17.4%), Toys (16.1%) and Electronics (11.1%).
• Nearly every U.S. household purchased a private-label product last year. All US households purchased private label grocery products in the last 12 months, followed by Health & Beauty (99.2% of households), Household Products (98.9%), and Home & Garden (97.6%). The sectors with the largest changes were Home & Garden (-2.8% HHP vs. YA) and Electronics (-1.8% HHP).

Product Sectors by Percentage of Household Penetration

• The largest share of own brands in the total number of units sold was recorded in club stores.Private label products accounted for 33.1% of the Club channel (e.g., Costco, Sam’s Club), followed by Office (30.3%), Mass (e.g., Target, Walmart, 28.0%), Home Improvement (26.8%) and Pet (25.5%).
• Eight out of ten items sold at Aldi are own-brand products. Of the 20 largest U.S. retailers, Aldi and Trader Joe’s rely the most on private-label products, with their private-label brands accounting for 80% and 69% of their total sales, respectively. Costco (34%), Sam’s Club (33%), HEB (33%), Walmart (30%), Dollar Tree (29%), Lowe’s (28%) and Kroger (27%) also report that more than a quarter of their total sales come from private-label products. Only 3% of Amazon’s sales are attributed to private-label products
• Smart Way is the leader in private label growth, followed closely by private label brands from Dollar Tree and Walgreens. Launched in late 2022, Kroger’s “Smart Way” brand was the fastest-growing private label last year, growing sales volume by +135%, followed by B Pure (Dollar Tree, +92%) Complete Home (Walgreens, +59%), Market Basket (Dollar Tree, +54%) and Skyra Icelandic (7-Eleven, +52%)
• Walmart’s private label brands dominate the competition. Five Walmart brands had more than 50% household penetration in the U.S. over the past year, including Great Value (86% of purchases), Equate (75%), Mainstays (70%), Marketside (69%) and Freshness Guaranteed (67%). 47% of U.S. households purchased Pen + Gear from Walmart. Dollar Tree, Aldi, Target and Costco rounded out the top 10 private labels in terms of household penetration.

Top 15 Private Labels by Household Penetration Percentage

The Numerator Private Label Tracker provides private label share information from Numerator TruView and Numerator Insights based on the trailing 12 months ending June 30, 2024 compared to the previous year in ten sectors (Office, Home & Garden, Household & Tools, Household, Grocery, Baby Products, Pets, Health & Beauty, Toys, and Electronics).