“Private brands are competitive forces in CPG (consumer packaged goods) with more to come,” said marketing research and technology company Circana at the top of its February 2025 report, “From growth to transformation: A global private label perspective.” The report, which focuses on the EU6, U.S. and Australian private label markets, shows just how much ground white label has gained in the last several years as consumers look for ways to save money without compromising quality.
Global growth of private label
Private label overall has come a long way from its 1980s generic, low-price roots, evolving into consumer-focused, strategy-driven, unique and data-informed brands that are just as readily on the tips of consumer tongues as the established name brands, according to Circana. In 2024, store brands like bettergoods (Walmart), Amazon Saver (Amazon.com) and Field & Vine (Kroger) launched, capitalizing on the demands of consumers looking to lower their grocery bills without lowering their standards. The success of Trader Joe’s, which in 2024 boasted about 85% own-brand on its shelves, proves that private label has legs well beyond its origins.
Europe’s (more specifically, EU6: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and UK) CPG/FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sales show the highest share of private labels, at 39%, with Australia close behind at 36% and the U.S. private label shares at 22%, according to Circana data.
As an example of Europe’s acceptance of private label brands in pet food, a recent survey by pet-focused data reports group LOOP – Yummypets and GA Pet Food Partners found that 44% of UK pet parents believe that store-brand options offer great value for the money, compared to 21% for branded products. Even more telling, 79% of shoppers said they’re open to replacing their current kibble with their preferred store’s private label — and in a true sign of how perceptions have changed, 87% of shoppers said they’d even pay more for that store brand.
“Private labels gain share during periods of high inflation and even when it has eased,” said Circana in its report. From the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative effects on global markets to the aftermath resulting in high inflation to the stabilization of 2024, overall private label unit share grew and continues to grow, with current destabilizing economic factors no doubt setting private label up for continued growth throughout 2025.
Private label’s place in the U.S.
The U.S. is seeing the fastest growth in of the developed private label markets right now, according to Circana, with US$308 billion in sales in 2024. Those sales made up 22% of the total dollar share of CPG/FMCG sales in 2024, up 4.6% from the prior year. With a unit share of 24%, it seems that private label has a firm and growing spot in the U.S.
The driving forces behind overall private label marketing strategies will be very familiar to the pet food industry: Trends like premiumization, innovation, sustainability and elevated culinary experiences are all well-known in the pet space as customers look to provide their pets with, at the very least, the same experiences they afford for themselves.
“Store brand dollar sales in all outlets increased 4x that of national brands [in 2023] as the products surged ahead by 3.9% compared to a gain of only 1% for their branded counterparts,” said the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) 2025 Private Label Report. “Looking at unit sales, the head-to-head disparity was much the same. Store brands advanced by 2.3% versus the figure for all of 2023 while national brands dropped -0.6%.”
The longer view numbers for store brands overall are even more stark: Annual sales up 23.6% since 2021, with units up 2.1%, showing the strength of this segment of the CPG markets.
“Middle single-digit increases year over year are a sweet spot where store brand sales have traditionally found themselves,” said Peggy David, PLMA president, in the report. “Sales spikes — up and down — such as we experienced earlier this decade wreaked havoc on the supply chain, the sourcing of ingredients, meeting packaging needs, human resources, capital requirements, pricing and corporate planning, among other operational issues.”
What does this look like in the U.S. pet private label market? In 2024, according to the PLMA’s report, pet care store brands saw dollar growth of 1.7% to US$5.3 billion when compared to 2023. More sustainably, unit sales went up by 3.5% in the pet care space, to 931.1 million units — tied for second place with the beverages category (also 3.5%) and outpaced only by the liquor category (18.1%; this category also saw private label dollar sales increase by 24.2% from 2023, so far an outlier from the other categories that the alcohol industry is probably having some very interesting conversations of its own!).
In terms of market share, pet care’s growth looks more modest, but is on pace with several other categories, according to PLMA data. 2024’s store brands dollar share gained 0.2% to 16.5% compared to 2023’s 16.3%, ahead of categories like beverages, beauty and home care (all of which saw 0.1% share growth). Units share made a slightly bigger dent, up to 17.6% compared to 2023’s 17.2%, 0.4% growth in overall market share. This tracks better or beside most other CPG categories, which saw private label take similar unit share from brand names in 2023 to 2024.
The future of private label
With private label’s primary pull globally being its price competitiveness compared to brand-name products, there’s no doubt that store brands will continue to gain market share in 2025. Private label has had plenty of practice in controlling costs, and with today’s “generic” brands now offering quality and innovation, there’s a real competition happening in all CPG spaces, including pet care.
At PLMA’s 2024 Private Label Trade Show, keynote speaker and Aldi President Dave Rinaldo had some strong words for the private label space.
“Private label is having a moment,” he said. “Amid inflation, shoppers discovered they don’t need to sacrifice quality to save money. In fact, 90% of shoppers say they’ll continue to buy private label in the future.”
With more economic uncertainty in progress, private label is certainly a segment to watch.
Pet food in the private label space
Pet food and treat products were in the top 20 non-edible categories for both store brand dollar sales and unit sales in 2024, according to PLMA’s 2025 Private Label Report:
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