CHICAGO — Consumer packaged goods companies sizing up private label competition need only look at the nation’s largest retailers to see how the brands have become a food shopping staple, new research from Numerator shows.

Grocery retailers represented 17 of the 20 biggest US retailers by private label share of company unit sales, led by own-brand specialists Aldi (80% share) and Trader Joe’s (69%), according to the latest data from Numerator’s Private Label Trends Tracker.

Next among retailers selling food were Costco Wholesale (34%), H-E-B (33%), Sam’s Club (33%), Walmart (30%), Dollar Tree (29%), Kroger (27%), 7-Eleven (24%), Target (23%), Meijer (20%), Albertsons (19%), Wakefern/ShopRite (17%), Dollar General (17%), Ahold Delhaize USA (17%), Walgreens (16%), Publix (16%) and Amazon (3%).

Of the 20 retailers, 13 had private label accounting for at least 20% of their unit sales during the 12 months ended June 30.

When it comes to reaching US households, Walmart dominates retail in private label. Five of the retail giant’s brands lead the nation in own-brand household penetration, including Great Value (86%), Equate (75%), Mainstays (70%), Marketside (69%) and Freshness Guaranteed (67%).

Also garnering high US household penetration are the eponymous brands of Dollar Tree (65%), Aldi (45%), CVS (40%) and Kroger (40%), along with Target’s Up & Up (43%) and Good & Gather (41%), Costco’s Kirkland Signature (43%), Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark (38%) and Dollar General’s Clover Valley (37%).

Numerator’s research pegged Kroger’s Smart Way, a value-focused grocery label launched in September 2022, as the fastest-growing store brand, with unit sales up 135% year over year for the first six months of 2024.

Other retailer brands seeing robust growth in that time frame were Dollar Tree’s B Pure (up 92%), Market Basket (up 54%) and Chestnut Hill (up 30%); Walgreens’ Complete Home (up 59%) and Nice! (up 27%); 7-Eleven’s Skyra Icelandic (up 52%); Dollar General’s Sweet Smiles (up 48%); Aldi’s Pur Aqua (up 29%); Kroger’s Home Chef (up 28%); Wegmans’ Food You Feel Good About (up 26%); Walmart’s Daily Chef (up 26%); and CVS Pharmacy’s CVS brand (up 24%).

By retail channel, warehouse clubs led the way as private brands represented 33% of their total units sold, Numerator reported. Among channels selling food, that was followed by mass chains (28% of unit sales were private label), supermarkets (25%), dollar stores (22.5%), online retailers (22%), drug stores (14%) and convenience/fuel stores (13.7%).

Wholesale clubs and convenience/fuel stores were the top private brand channels by growth, each with own-brand unit sales up 0.9% year over year. Next by store brand unit volume growth among food sellers were online retailers (up 0.7%), drug stores (up 0.5%), mass chains (up 0.4%) and supermarkets (up 0.2%), while dollar stores saw private label unit sales decline 1.5% from a year earlier.

Grocery marked the only product sector with private label US household penetration of 100%, Numerator’s data show. The sector’s store brand unit share for the 2024 first half was nearly 24%, up 0.5% from a year ago. Other product sectors with near-full household penetration in private brands were health and beauty at 99.2% (unit share of 17%, flat year over year), household at 98.9% (unit share of 27%, up 0.4%), and home and garden at 97.6% (unit share of 33%, down 2.8%).

“Nearly all US households purchased private label products in grocery, health and beauty, household, and home and garden categories over the last 12 months, and private label products accounted for 24% of total units sold across 10 major product sectors,” the Chicago-based consumer market researcher said.

Why are many shoppers buying private brands? Lower prices, primarily.

Of consumers polled by Numerator, 43% cited cost savings as the chief reason they opt for store brands. Still, a large chunk of consumers need more convincing on the quality side, Numerator’s findings reveal. Among those surveyed, 58% said private brands offer an above-average value for their price, yet just 29% agreed that store brand quality matches that of national brands.