U.S. Private Label Industry Reached $282.8 Billion in Sales in 2025
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U.S. Private Label Industry Reached $282.8 Billion in Sales in 2025
Year-end data released as industry celebrates national Store Brands Month

NEW YORK (January 20, 2026) - U.S. sales of store brands increased slightly more than $9 billion to a record $282.8 billion in all outlets last year compared to 2024, according to PLMA's just-released Circana Unify+™ data.

Store brand dollar sales increased nearly three times the rate of national brands, climbing 3.3%, compared to a gain of only 1.2% for their national brand counterparts for the 52 weeks ending December 28, 2025.

“Store brands are outperforming national brands across the U.S., growing faster, expanding share, and delivering record-setting sales results," said PLMA President Peggy Davies.

Store brand unit volume was up by 434.3 million to 68.7 billion, also setting a new record. This represents a 0.6% rise, while national brands declined by -0.6%.

In store brand unit sales gains, the best performing department for 2025 was Pet Care, up 5.4%, followed by Liquor +4.4%; Beverages, +2.3%; Frozen, +0.9%; Refrigerated, + 0.7% and General Food, +0.2%. 

In dollar sales, seven departments finished ahead of the prior year. The Refrigerated department expanded the most, gaining 6.1% in store brand revenue, followed by Beverages, +4.8%; Pet Care, +3.7%; Beauty, +2.8%; Frozen, +2.4%; General Food, +1.6% and General Merchandise, +0.9%.

Annual dollar sales of store brands increased $64.8 billion, or plus 30%, over the past five years - from 2021 to 2025 - and dollar share rose from 19.1% to 21.3%. Annual unit sales of store brands advanced 2.7 billion, or plus 4%, and unit share improved from 21.6% to a record 23.5% during the period.

"Private label growth reflects a shift in consumer priorities, as retailer-owned brands increasingly compete—and win—on value, quality, health, and sustainability, not just price," said Davies.

Dollar Sales

FY 2025

FY 2024

% Change

All Channels

$1,328,777,419,205

$1,309,386,110,796

1.5%

Store Brands

$282,782,060,652

$273,768,476,119

3.3%

National Brands 

$1,045,995,358,553

$1,035,617,634,677

1.2%

    

Unit Sales

FY 2025

FY 2024

% Change

All Channels

291,656,386,613

292,650,670,452

-0.4%

Store Brands

68,683,267,522

68,248,957,909

0.6%

National Brands 

222,973,119,091

224,401,714,543

-0.6%

Source: PLMA/Circana Unify+™

Retailers and PLMA members can click here to access this exclusive PLMA Circana Unify+™ data.  PLMA's full 2026 Private Label Report will be available on plma.com in a few weeks.

The year-end sales figures were released during the second annual Store Brands Month. Created by PLMA, Store Brands Month is a national month-long consumer awareness campaign held annually in January to educate consumers about the quality, innovation, and value offered by private label products. Retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers nationwide are supporting Store Brands Month through in-store messaging, digital promotion, email campaigns, and social platforms encouraging shoppers to explore, try, and buy store brands.

“We’re thrilled to see all the exciting and innovative ways the industry is celebrating Store Brands Month to drive shopper engagement with private label products,” Davies said.

Click here for more details.

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:

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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.

PLMA Announces 2023 Private Label Hall of Fame Inductees
HOF logo

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      
  • 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.
"How Private Label Packaging Strategies Influence Shoppers Intent to Purchase"
PLMA President Appears on National Morning Show GMA

Good Morning America interviewed PLMA President Peggy Davies for a "GMA Consumer Alert" story titled, “How to Hack Your Grocery Bill and Save Money.” Watch it here:

PLMA President Appears on ‘GMA’

Good Morning America interviewed PLMA President Peggy Davies for a "GMA Consumer Alert" story titled, “How to Hack Your Grocery Bill and Save Money.” Watch it here:

Scott Morris - Walmart’s SVP Private Brands Food, Consumables, and Manufacturing - to Keynote
ott Morris - Walmart’s SVP Private Brands Food, Consumables, and Manufacturing - to Keynote PLMA’s 2026 Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference
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Scott Morris - Walmart’s SVP Private Brands Food, Consumables, and Manufacturing - to Keynote
PLMA’s 2026 Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference

Scott MorrisNEW YORK (December 2, 2025) - Scott Morris - Walmart's Senior Vice President of Private Brands Food, Consumables, and Manufacturing - will deliver the keynote address at PLMA’s 2026 Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference in Bentonville, Arkansas, April 15-17.  The topic of Morris' keynote is “The Future of Private Brands.”

The early bird rate is effective until Jan.16, 2026. Click here for more information or contact conferences@plma.com.

"Walmart is an exemplar of utilizing store brands as a key retail strategy," said Peggy Davies, PLMA president.

Among its recent store brand initiatives, Walmart's bettergoods assortment has been a major hit, featuring hundreds of products across categories like frozen foods, snacks, dairy and beverages.

This year’s conference will take place in Bentonville, reflecting PLMA’s ongoing approach of hosting the event near major retail hubs. The 2026 theme, “Building Brands That Drive Success,” emphasizes strategic growth and collaboration across the private label industry. The location is Embassy Suites Northwest Arkansas.

The program offers a customizable schedule featuring:

  • 12 breakout sessions across tracks including Brand Building; Innovation & Product Development; Emerging Technologies; Marketing & Shopper Engagement; Differentiation Through Innovation; and Strategic Partnerships.
  • Five main-stage plenary presentations.
  • A flexible “DIY” agenda format first introduced in 2025, praised for its variety and relevance.

“The format and retail-centric setting encourage deeper networking and meaningful discussions on the future of private brands and retailing overall,” added Davies.

Speakers include industry leaders from FMI, NIQ, Daymon, Path 2 Purchase Institute, Plante Moran, Lippincott, Circana, and others. Davies will serve as host and lead PLMA’s annual meeting and the 2026 Private Label Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Click here for more details.

Dubbed "a new capital of cool" by The Wall Street Journal, Bentonville is the birthplace of Walmart and home to its global headquarters. Arts, culture, and history abound in the northwest Arkansas town whose population is about 62,000. Located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, it's accessible from major U.S. cities by air and a short drive from Kansas City, Dallas, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Little Rock.

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

PLMA Expands Online Education Offering to Three Tracks: Sales, Account Management, Category Leadership
Enterprise-series

Mastering Enterprise Series

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PLMA Expands Online Education Offering to Three Tracks:
Sales, Account Management, Category Leadership

NEW YORK (January 13, 2026) - PLMA has expanded its partnership with SalesStar, a global authority in sales and business leadership transformation, to offer members a suite of three online curricula - Mastering Enterprise Sales, Account Management and Category Leadership - that is customized for private brand manufacturers, brokers and suppliers.

The online learning programs provide a structured development journey that equips participants with the skills and capabilities needed to succeed with today’s enterprise retailers.

The series will kick off February 2 with the Sales track and continue throughout the year. Click here for the full schedule and registration details.

"Following two well-received programs in 2025, SalesStar will increase its programming for PLMA in 2026 by providing a suite of cohort-based learning tracks that strengthen manufacturer capabilities across key functions in the business lifecycle: Mastering Enterprise Sales, Account Management and Category Leadership," explained PLMA President Peggy Davies.

“The three tracks are suitable for VPs and directors of small- to mid-sized private brand suppliers; new enterprise account sales managers; and marketing and sales leaders for small to mid-size private label suppliers, respectively. Store brand executives involved in other areas of responsibility are welcome to enroll," added Davies.

Classes are conducted as multi-week, virtual cohorts that are led by high performance coaches. They include live instruction and on-demand learning. Coursework demonstrates specific competency and skill sets essential to mastering Sales, Account Management or Category Leadership.

Custom programs and volume incentives are available for companies enrolling five or more participants.

For additional information, contact at education@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 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

PLMA Expands Online Education Offering to Three Tracks: Sales, Account Management, Category Leadership

PLMA and SalesStar, a global leader in sales and business leadership transformation, will expand their partnership in 2026 by offering members a suite of three online curricula -- mastering enterprise Sales, Account Management and Category Leadership -- that are customized for private brand manufacturers, brokers and suppliers.

These online learning programs provide a structured development journey that equips participants with the skills and capabilities needed to succeed with today’s enterprise retailers.

The series will kick off Feb. 2 with the Sales track and continue throughout the year. Click here for the full schedule.

"Following two well-received programs in 2025, SalesStar will increase its programming for PLMA in 2026 by providing a suite of cohort-based learning tracks that strengthen manufacturer capabilities across key functions in the business lifecycle: mastering enterprise Sales, Account Management and Category Leadership," explained PLMA President Peggy Davies.

"Each track provides a proven framework to penetrate retailers, drive joint growth and lead enterprise-level collaboration. The three tracks are suitable for VPs and directors of small- to mid-sized private brand suppliers; new enterprise account sales managers; and marketing and sales leaders for small to mid-size private label suppliers, respectively. Store brand executives involved in other areas of responsibility are welcome to enroll," added Davies.

Classes are conducted as multi-week, virtual cohorts that are led by high performance coaches. They include live instruction and on-demand learning. Coursework demonstrates specific competency and skill sets essential to mastering Sales, Account Management or Category Leadership.

To register for any or all of the tracks please complete this form. If you are not a PLMA member and wish to become one click here. For additional information, contact at education@plma.com.

Custom programs and volume incentives are available for companies enrolling five or more participants.