Marketing research data shows that store brands have been making inroads against branded consumer packaged goods items. (E.g., see Progressive Grocer.) But statistics don’t always tell the whole story. One thing reports like this don’t show, though, is why consumers are switching. It would be interesting to find out how many consumers are deliberately choosing store brands vs. no longer having a choice.

From my own personal experiences, I’ve noticed that several of my preferred name brand items are harder or impossible to find at many supermarkets – their shelf space has been taken over by store brands. Therefore, although I might have preferred a name brand in some cases, I had little or no choice (barring shopping elsewhere).

This is a question name brand manufacturers might want to consider. Their future marketing strategies might need to be adjusted if they are losing sales because of consumer choices or because of retailer decisions.

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