The Private Label has shown signs of a slowdown in Europe over the last year. Across Europe as a whole, 2015 closed with a market share of 38.3% in value and 47.4% in volume, although the analysis for individual countries conducted by IRI reveals differing situations (Figure 1). Countries such as France and Germany have made a bigger contribution to this slowdown with falls of 1 and 0.8 percentage points respectively in terms of value, whereas the UK is continuing to boost the Private Label segment with modest (+0.4%) growth to a value of 51.8%.
 

Figure 1 – The Private Label segment in Europe, US and Australia (value, variation against the previous year, turnover)

Source: Private Label in Western Economies, IRI Special Report,  IRI, June 2016

Interestingly, this phenomenon has been accompanied by a similar decline in promotional sales of Private Label products (Figure 2). According to IRI data, the share of Private Label products sold on promotion was 13.4%, a decline of 1.7 points with respect to the previous year. One of the countries to have eased promotional pressure on Private Label products is the UK. Although the share of private label products sold on promotion remains the highest in Europe (30.6%), over the last year British retailers have reduced their use of the promotional lever (-4.6%). There remains a large gap with respect to national brands, of which on average 64.5% continue to be sold on promotion.  

Figure 2 – Sales on promotion of Private Label (PL) and National Brands (NB) 

Source: Private Label in Western Economies, IRI Special Report, IRI, June 2016

Finally, comparing the price level of Private Label products in different countries (Figure 3), we find that Italian retailers sell these products at a higher average price than their European counterparts (81.9, setting the average value of national brands at 100).

Figure 3 – Private Label price level 

Source: Private Label in Western Economies, IRI Special Report,  IRI, June 2016