“A lot of people during the recession reluctantly bought private-label, got home and stated, 'This is not bad at all. Why am I paying more money?’” says John Stanton, Ph.D., a food marketing professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. “Consumers aren’t demanding the best. They are demanding good.”
Store-brand supermarket sales in the 12-month period ending Aug. 31 hit $111.6 billion, according to the Nielsen Co., a New York-based media and marketing information concern. The total was up 18.5% from 2009. National-brand sales grew 8% during the same span, Nielsen reports.