Private Labels increase their share of innovations
In our previous blog we showed a large drop in innovation activity at the category level at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now we analyze new product activities of national brands and private labels separately between 2018 and 2020. Again, we define innovation activity as the number of launches in a category in relation to the total assortment of the category in that year.
- Not surprisingly, we see a reduction both among national brands (-3%) and private labels (-2%) regarding the respective assortment share occupied by launches.
- Looking at the composition of all launches in 2020 we find that PLs are responsible for more launches than National Brands in the average Food category.
- While National Brands are still more active regarding the number of launches in Beverages, Household Care and Personal Care, they have lost some ground in beverages and a lot in HH care (6%). In Personal Care, however, NBs have become relatively more active.
Despite an overall decline of category innovation, PLs have increased their relative share in all category types except Personal Care. This is worrying news for National Brands who cannot afford to provide even more growth opportunities for PL in times where people are very concerned about prices.
Data: More than 700 categories in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Data on Launches and Category Assortment Width 2018 and 2020
