Private label products may have underperformed during the pandemic, but they’re outstripping national brands in new product introductions, according to a new study.
Catalina, a marketing intelligence service, released a study that showed that new product introductions have dropped precipitously, across the board, during the pandemic. However, the rate of decline was sharper for national brands than for private label. Product rollouts declined 34% year-over-year in 2020 and 54% in 2021, but for national brands, the respective figures were 46% and 65%.
The food category with the biggest rate for new private label products was cereal, with 66% more new product intros in 2021 than 2020. Introductions of new branded cereal products dropped 35% in that period. Other private label categories with high rates of new product rollouts were cookies (up 60% in 2021 vs. 2020) and dry cat food (up 13%).
In terms of sales compared with before the pandemic, the biggest winner in private label was frozen potatoes, up 191%, and baking ingredients, up 115%.
