Switzerland is private label champion, Belgium in second place

In three European countries, private labels represented more than half of the FMCG volumes sold in 2021: Switzerland, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Lower prices

No less than 57.6% of the products sold in Swiss supermarkets are private labels. This makes Switzerland the European champion. The silver medal goes to Belgium, where private label has a share of 54.6%. The podium is completed by the UK, with a volume share of 50.4% for private brands.

However, the value share of private labels is usually significantly lower: a logical consequence of the fact that supermarkets often use their private labels as a cheaper alternative for A-brands. Switzerland is an exception: in terms of turnover, private brands have a share of 51.9% there. In Belgium, the difference is much bigger: private label represents a 36.3% share of sales, indicating that private labels are significantly lower priced than national brands.

Large differences

The latest edition of the International Private Label Yearbook, published by PLMA (the association of private label manufacturers) and research bureau NielsenIQ, shows all this. Since 1998, this yearbook has provided an overview of trends and figures for private labels in 18 European countries.

In exactly half of the 18 countries surveyed, the volume share of private labels exceeds 40%. However, there are very large differences: Turkey is a notable laggard, with a share of just 5.7% for private labels. Here the national brands have the field almost for themselves.

Peanut butter and surimi

Noteworthy: by far the strongest growing private brand reference in Belgium in 2021 was peanut butter, with growth of no less than 35.2% in volume and 23.8% in value. The product category with the highest private label share is smoked fish (93% in volume, 91.7% in value).

The big winner in the Netherlands was surimi, which grew by 23.5% in volume and 25.6% in value. The category with the highest private label share in that country was fresh pizza (94.7% in volume, 95.4% in value).