PLMA's 2025 World of Private Label International Trade Show, held May 20-21 in Amsterdam, featured 3,150 exhibitors from 75 countries. In all, more than 32,000 trade professionals - including retailers, exhibitors and other visitors from 125 countries - attended the event. Judith Kolenburg reports on trends she found in the Idea Supermarket®, a special showcase featuring the latest product and packaging trends from around the globe. Among the products Kolenburg profiles: items for new moms and babies from Boots and dm-drogerie markt; and sports nutrition from Auchan and Aldi.
Private Label Manufacturers Association
Experience the 'Store Brands Marketplace'
Welcome to PLMA’s e-scanner newsletter – News, Insights, Inspiration and Happenings
By Carol Angrisani, Editor and PLMA Content Producer
PLMA's 2023 Trade Show to Hail 'The Store Brands Phenomenon'
The largest event for store brands in North America is set for November 12-14 in Chicago
NEW YORK (April 24, 2023) - At a time when store brands have grown to become a $230 billion industry in the U.S., PLMA has announced a fitting theme for its 2023 Private Label Trade Show: “The Store Brands Phenomenon.”
The show will be held November 12-14 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago.
"'The Store Brands Phenomenon' theme is appropriate in many ways," said PLMA President Peggy Davies. "Hailed as dynamic, innovative and pervasive, store brands offer boundless opportunities for retailers, manufacturers and trade suppliers."
The growth of store brands has been strong and steady. By the end of 2022, PLMA calculates that annual store brand sales had increased by 40% over a five-year period. Last year's double-digit gains continued through the first quarter of 2023, according to Circana. Sales and dollar and unit market shares are at all-time highs.
They are the shopper’s best friend, offering innovation, performance and quality. Store brands accounted for nearly one-third of all new sales flowing into U.S. retailing last year.
And there's more to come. Every day, store brand products are moving into new categories, new chains, new channels, and new platforms.
“Store brands are a powerful retailer component that provides important points of differentiation, competitive advantage and builds consumer loyalty," added Davies.
The 2023 Private Label Trade Show will reflect this expansion. PLMA expects that over 1,500 companies will be exhibiting and 5,000 individuals attending.
"For more than 40 years, PLMA has provided supermarkets, supercenters, drug chains, wholesale clubs, dollar and specialty stores, mass merchandisers, importers and exporters, and e-commerce retailers an exclusive venue to discover the latest food and non-food products, ingredients, flavors, fragrances, and packaging,” Davies said.
For more information on "The Store Brands Phenomenon" trade show, contact PLMA at +1 212 972-3131, email info@plma.com or click here for more information.
About PLMA
The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1979 to promote the store brands industry. With executive offices in New York and International Council offices in Amsterdam, PLMA represents more than 4,000 member companies worldwide. In addition to the Annual Private Label Trade Show in Chicago and its World of Private Label Trade Show in Amsterdam, PLMA provides annual conferences, executive education and professional development opportunities. Follow PLMA on plma.com, plmainternational.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Store Brand Beverage Numbers Deserve a Toast!
Featured in PLMA’s e-Scanner March 25, 2023 newsletter, created by Tom Prendergast, Director, Research Services
Throughout store brands' steady double-digit gains of 2022, which has continued through the first two months of this year, fully 16 of the 17 departments tracked by IRI showed store brand improvement.
One department demonstrated particularly strong sales performance -- Beverages -- a section once considered impenetrable for store brands due to the powerhouse national brands that inhabit it.
But that dominance may be changing. In this extremely competitive department, store brands have been growing at a faster pace than brands for the past 4, 12 and 52 weeks, reported IRI Unify exclusively to PLMA.
The numbers deserve a toast. Total private label beverage sales in 2022 were $12 billion and dollar sales grew by 19.3%. Double digit growth continued into the new year as dollar sales over the past four weeks totaled 18.6%, only a slight dip from the 20% sales growth in the past three months.
The Beverages department is the third largest of the 17 tracked by IRI when it comes to national brand and store brand dollar sales ($130B) and second largest in unit sales with over 40 billion in sales.
The largest category in beverages is bottled water. The category has sales of $6.8 billion in 2022 and dollar sales growth of 23.1%. While dollar sales did slow, from 21.3% over 12 weeks to 20.3% in the past four weeks, it remains the largest dollar sales category in the department.
Water is not the only growth category in this department. When you take a closer look at other areas you see while not everyone is showing growth but the ones gaining sales are especially strong.
For instance, carbonated beverages have increased from 15.8%-dollar sales growth last year to 32.4% in February and 28.9% over the past three months. This growth is also reflected in unit sales, as sales for carbonated beverages grew 4% in the past 4 weeks and 1.2% over the past 12 weeks. While unit sales did dip 2.5% last year, like dollar sales, sales of units of carbonated beverages continued to advance.
Two other growing categories over this period were refrigerated tea/coffee and tea bags. Refrigerated tea/coffee grew from 8.2% in dollar sales last year to 10.7% in the past four weeks. Tea bags had even more dramatic results, as dollar sales went from 5% in 2022 to 12.3% in the past three months to 17.5% in the past four weeks.
Other categories also stood out. These include bottled juices (10%), coffee (15.4%) and ready to drink tea/coffee (15.8%); all had double digit growth in 2022. In the past four weeks, while growth has slowed, it remains positive, ranging from 66.8% for ready to drink tea and coffee to 13.9% for coffee and 10.2% for bottled juices.
Unit sales improvements were also striking. Ready to drink tea/coffee saw units rise from 10.4% in 2022 to 84% over the past 3 months and 75.7% in the past 4 weeks. Coffee unit sales were up 2.8% last year but kept most of that growth in the past four weeks with a 2.5%-unit sales growth.
After decades of being a bottom shelf afterthought in a strong national branded department, store brands are evolving to become a presence if not a player in many parts of the huge Beverages sector.
To find out more IRI Unify data is available to all PLMA members and can be found at plma.com where these statistics and sales of 317 categories and 967 subcategories can be found.
Analyst Robert Moskow Shares Grocery Forecast
SNAP cuts, higher interest rates and other factors will affect grocery consumer demand this year, says Robert Moskow, a long-time Wall Street analyst in the grocery space. Moskow says 2023 represents an unprecedented opportunity for store brands, predicting continued double-digit sales growth. He also shares his forecast for the CPI for food and much more.
PLMA Announces 2023 Private Label Hall of Fame Inductees
NEW YORK (March 23, 2023) - The Private Label Hall of Fame Class of 2023 was inducted last night during PLMA’s Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference in Orlando.
Presented by PLMA and Store Brands magazine, the Private Label Hall of Fame was created in 2006 to recognize the men and women who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of the global private brand industry.
This year, the Hall of Fame honors 16 individuals in four categories: Next Gen Private Label Leader, Private Brand Innovator, Private Brand Champion, and Lifetime Achievement.
“We proudly celebrate the outstanding achievements of these proven leaders and innovators,” said PLMA President Peggy Davies. “Their hard work and dedication are instrumental to the success of the store brands business.”
Private Label Hall of Fame Class of 2023
Next Gen Private Label Leader:
- Anthony Cera III, Own Brands Manager, Perishables, SpartanNash
- Colleen Kangas, President, Purcell International
- Angela LePore, Senior Manager, Private Brands Product Development, Simmons Pet Food, Inc.
- Kristin Provost, Senior Manager, Category Insights, Topco Associates, LLC
Private Brand Innovator:
- Alicia Cook, Category Director, Save A Lot
- Casey Creegan, Manager of Merchandising, Love’s Travel Stops
- Roger Scommegna, CEO, Flying Blue Imports
- Guido Tremolini, President/Co-Owner, G.S. Gelato
Private Brand Champion:
- Shane Brown, Director, Own Brand Sourcing, Giant Eagle, Inc.
- Jill Clark, VP, Sales and Marketing, Dutch Gold Honey, Inc.
- Andrea Collaro, Senior Director, Owned Brands, Brand Management/Product Development, Walgreens Co.
- Kristie Nicolosi, CEO, The Kingswood Company
Lifetime Achievement:
- Brenda Lord, Vice President, Private Brands, CVS Health
- Nancy Ragozzino, President, Ragozzino Foods, Inc.
- Andy Russick, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Pacific Coast Producers
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Jill Sando, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer, Target“The 16 honorees represent the best of the best from across the world of private label and showcase the depth of talent the industry has to offer,” said Store Brands magazine Executive Editor & Associate Publisher Greg Sleter. “This august group of retailers and suppliers have had a major impact on the private label business and will continue to do so in the years ahead.”Profiles on all inductees will be featured in the May/June issue of Store Brands magazine, featured on StoreBrands.com, and posted in a special section of plma.com.
About PLMA
The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1979 to promote the store brands industry. With executive offices in New York and International Council offices in Amsterdam, PLMA represents more than 4,000 member companies worldwide. In addition to the Annual Private Label Trade Show in Chicago and its World of Private Label Trade Show in Amsterdam, PLMA provides annual conferences, executive education and professional development opportunities. Follow PLMA on plma.com, plmainternational.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Trade Show Buzz: All About Nonfoods
Registration is open for PLMA’s 2025 “Store Brands Marketplace” Private Label Trade Show, Nov. 16-18 in Chicago. In this pre-Show report, Jodi Daley shares trends in OTC medicine, beauty care, home goods and housewares, school supplies and other nonfood categories.
Store Brand Beauty Business is Booming
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@plma.com
Store Brand Beauty Business is Booming
Skin care, hair care, fragrances are among thousands of products on exhibit at
PLMA’s 2025 “Store Brands Marketplace” Private Label Trade Show, Nov. 16-18
NEW YORK (August 5, 2025) - Private label beauty product sales are radiant, reaching $3.8 billion in sales in all outlets last year, a 4% increase from the previous year, according to PLMA’s Circana Unify+ data.
Store brand sales growth has continued well into this year. Dollar sales of women’s fragrances soared 53% to $161.8 million and units climbed 40% for the 52 weeks ending July 13 vs year-ago sales. For the same period, hair conditioner dollar sales jumped 81% to $44.3 million, while units grew 30%; and bath fragrances/bubble bath, +21% in dollars to $33.7 million, +32% in units. Skin care is up 7% in dollar sales to $288.5 million, while units moved +0.3%.
Lotions, oils, skin care products, fragrances, haircare, men’s grooming and many other new and trending nonfood categories will join thousands of foods, beverages and wine & spirts on display at PLMA’s 2025 “Store Brands Marketplace” Private Label Trade Show, Nov. 16-18 in Chicago. Registration is open at storebrandsmarketplace.com.
The Show will feature 35,000+ products, 3,100 booths, and 2,000 exhibitors from 65 countries, making it the largest event of its kind.
“Beyond food and beverages, visitors will see an exciting lineup of nonfood offerings at the Show, ranging from vitamins to kitchenware,” said PLMA President Peggy Davies.
Store brand HBC products are rising in popularity as shoppers seek out high-quality, convenient, innovative products at a reasonable cost. Examples of store brands include the new Real Root line by Sprouts, which includes premium body care, hair care and personal care items.
Also on the Show floor: Self-Care & Wellness products like facial masks, fragrances, suncare and essential oils to in-home spa products and much more.
Likewise, dietary supplements - vitamins, minerals, botanicals and probiotics - are more popular than ever. New store brands in this space include California Gold Nutrition hair multivitamins from online wellness retailer iHerb; and Premier Collagen beauty supplement line from GNC.
In other areas of nonfoods, there will be a focus on essentials like OTC medicine, skin and sun care, school and office supplies, baby food and accessories, kitchenware, household goods, general merchandise, first aid, nail care and much more.
And there will be plenty of products for Fido: Pet food, treats and accessories will be on display for our furry friends and other pets. New store brands in the pet department include Pure Wonder by Best Choice from AWG Brands, the private brands program of Associated Wholesale Grocers. The line includes food and essentials for dogs, cats, and birds.
CLICK HERE or visit storebrandsmarketplace.com for information about the Show.
About PLMA
The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) is a non-profit trade organization founded in 1979 to promote the store brands industry. With executive offices in New York and International Council offices in Amsterdam, PLMA represents more than 5,200 member companies worldwide. In addition to the Annual Private Label Trade Show in Chicago and World of Private Label International Trade Show in Amsterdam, PLMA provides annual conferences, executive education and professional development opportunities. An advocate for the industry, PLMA created Store Brands Month, a nationwide collaboration of retailers, wholesalers, and private label suppliers, promoting store brand products to the country's grocery shoppers. The month-long event focuses on increasing consumer attention to the quality, value and innovation of store brand products across all categories within brick and mortar and online retail formats. For more information, visit plma.com, plmainternational.com, and follow PLMA:
PLMA e-scanner July 26, 2025
