Packaged Facts has come out with its report about the food industry and the growth posted by various segments. The primary focus of the analysis was on mass market products that are sold in big box, warehouse clubs and supermarkets. The analysis was also about retailers of food and beverage (the beverages you can put in your drink holder mind you) that include convenience stores, drug stores, natural food and health stores etc. Emerging trends and patterns of various store segments has also been studied by the report titled Private Label Food and Beverage in the US.
Interestingly, customer interest in private labels and their acceptance has really helped specialty stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to notch up their product sales after 2005 overtaking the traditional supermarkets and grocery stores. According to the estimations of the Packaged Facts report, the dollar sales of private label food and beverage has generated total revenue of 87 billion dollars in 2009 that marks a 6% growth from the 82 billion dollar mark made in 2008. The 87 billion dollar figure makes up 17% of the total beverage and food sales in the country. This was also on the back of a 7% increase in the food market. The penetration rate initially in the period was 14%, while it slowly grew to 15% before strongly touching 16%.
Traditional supermarkets along with groceries were found on the losing end of the stick when it came to competition with alternate stores. Between the period of 2005 and 2009, beverage retailers and traditional food retailers grew only by 4% which was much lower than the mean growth of 6%. On the other hand specialty food stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s were very impressive with 14% growth during the same period. Supercenters that include chains like Target and Walmart (where we’re trying to get our cup holder into) weren’t way behind with a compounded annual growth of 9% while club stores including Sam’s Club, Wholesale, Costco and BJs just about managed the mean growth rate. Surprisingly, lower end discount supermarkets saw a decline in their sales year on year, although their overall compounded rate for the same period was a meager 2%. Specialty stores with their impressive growth have been able to distinguish themselves unlike in the past. This has largely been on the basis of excellent packaging of products, various pack sizes, latest varieties of flavors and also the emergence of a lot of new premium lines.
