Last month, in partnership with PLMA, Circana launched Unify+, an expanded database for monthly statistics. While it contains some of the same information as the previous version, Unify+ gives a more in-depth look at store brand sales from several key angles.
One of the additions is the Channel section where members can see the top 10 selling store brand categories and subcategories in multi-outlet, supermarkets, drug stores, and the convenience store channel. It shows the top 10 products that have been driving growth over the past 52 weeks.
The most recent Channel Summary from Circana demonstrate a few categories are growing across all channels but how one of the channels is showing the changing face of store brand shopping in the United States.
The big picture shows in all outlets store brands grew by 12.6% in dollar sales, reaching over $174B during the past 52 weeks. All channels except drug chains showed growth during that period with convenience stores leading the pack with 16.6%.
Bottled water was the top selling store brand category across all channels, rising 20.8% in sales while fresh eggs, cups & plates, fresh bread and rolls, and toilet tissue finished out the top five.
Not every channel had sales grow in the 10 most active categories. Frozen seafood experienced a drop in sales in all but convenience stores. However, products like bottled water had double digit growth in every channel except drug chains and fresh eggs and toilet tissue had top 10 growth in all four channels.
The convenience channel stood out when examining both categories and subcategories. It’s well-known convenience chains, like dollar stores, have been expanding their product selection to include more food and home staples. Chains like Casey’s and 7-Eleven, among others, have expanded their store brand lines of these products as well.
In the top 10 growing convenience categories reported on Unify+, home staples lead with cups & plates (up 142.6%) and toilet tissue (39.8%) both in top 10-dollar sales growth. However, food product sales especially stood out as refrigerated meats (89%), bottled water (10.6%), dairy milk (6.9%), fresh eggs (24.7%) and fresh bread and rolls (9.6%) all grew.
The same was true for food subcategories. Refrigerated noncooked meats (not including poultry) grew 89% in dollar sales. Cookies (25.5%), natural shredded cheese (17.5%), refrigerated butter (8.9%), and refrigerated white milk (7.1%) all increased in convenience store sales. Perhaps it is a sign that consumers are turning more to convenience stores for basic home staples instead of their regular shopping destinations.
Tom’s Data Dive is a monthly column written by Editor-in-Chief Tom Prendergast, taking a deeper look at statistics and trends in the industry. This story was featured in PLMA’s e-Scanner June 17, 2023, e-Scanner newsletter.