The last recession stimulated consumer interest in private brands and directed retailers to put more focus on these products. In the current high inflationary period, there is good reason to expect the same trends. This presents an opportunity for retailers to grow Always Save and Best Choice cheese sales even more.
Natural cheese continues to gain dollar share as consumers switch from processed cheese to natural cheese. Private brands is a big contributor to natural cheese growth, accounting for 47% of the natural cheese dollar sales; posting a four-year compound annual growth rate of +4%.
There are several natural cheese segments which private brands leads in dollar share, with shreds being the biggest. Private brands have 67% of the shred dollar sales; gaining 6 share points from national brands over the past five years and private brand cheese overall continue to gain dollar share in several of the natural cheeses segments.
Over the last year, cheese prices increased more than 8% with national brand prices up more than 10%.
Consumers are more likely to switch from national brands to private brand in categories that are already highly developed with private brand product offerings. Attract these switching consumers with products that meet their needs. Ensure strong assortment and full distribution convenience cheese such as shreds, slices and snack cheeses like string, stick, and cracker cut.
Always Save offers everyday low price value in category-leading flavors and formats and Best Choice has products across the category to meet consumer convenience needs. Consumers also state that chunk (block) cheese is the most versatile as it can be shredded, sliced or cut into cubes, thus presenting the best format value.
A New Cheese Look!
The new Best Choice food design is coming to cheese later this year. Here’s a sneak peek at the new design of block cheese rolling out soon. The rest of the cheese items will follow later in the year.
