麦肯锡-私人品牌的转折点：零售商如何抓住机遇（英）

November 2024Retail PracticeA turning point for private brands: How retailers can seize the opportunityProducts from private brands are appealing to consumers in new ways. Retailers can follow this well-tested recipe to improve their private-brand offerings and gain market share.by Angus McOuat, Dymfke Kuijpers, Patricio Ibáñez, and Ryan DrassinowerIn 2021, we asked whether the private-brand trend would last. At the time, consumers were eagerly snapping up retailers’ owned brands, which were lower-priced and more readily available than similar products from many national brands. Fast-forward to today: our research clearly shows that consumers are continuing to opt for private brands.The trend is continuing in both Europe and the United States. McKinsey’s latest consumer sentiment research shows that nearly 75 percent of US consumers and almost 85 percent of European consumers indicate that they are “trading down” when shopping—and switching to private-label brands accounts for a quarter of this trade-down behavior. Furthermore, the continued strong performance of mass retailers and the club channel in the United States, as well as the discount channel in Europe, makes it clear that customers are willing to change their buying behavior and shop at different retailers in search of value.What’s more, private brands are appealing to customers not just because of price and affordability; these brands are now also becoming known for their quality. Sophisticated retailers are using private brands to differentiate themselves in the market and build customer loyalty, not only to improve margins and penny profit. We see this as a turning point in private brands.But not all retailers will benefit. Retailers that are intentional about their private-brand portfolio—by providing both affordability and differentiation while shifting their mindset to think more like consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) players—will be better positioned to boost margins, consumer loyalty, and market share.In this article, we outline a recipe for excelling in private brands. It encompasses three core capabilities—namely, merchandising and brand building, insights-led product development, and next-generation sourcing—and two organizational enablers that are fundamental to success.1 PLMA’s 2024 Private Label Report: A statistical guide to today’s store brands, Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), 2024. Categories tracked by PLMA include beauty, beverages, frozen, general food, general merchandise, health, home care, liquor, refrigerated, and tobacco.No longer just a value playHistorically, US retailers have positioned private brands as affordable consumer options. As a result, private brands have not always had an advantageous penny profit position and have thus been treated as a low-priority part of the business. Retailers in Europe, by contrast, have been ahead of the curve in private-brand penetration, born out of the rise of discounters—and the resulting fight for mar