Dive Brief:

• IRI's annual report on the European and U.S. private label market shows a narrowing price gap between national brands and private label products in every country except Germany.
• The narrowing of the gap is said to be due to a reduction in retailer promotions, which increased private label product prices and gave retailers 0.4% (€500 million) more while ongoing national brand promotions have remained level.

Dive Insight:

Non-food products, particularly household, are seeing the largest narrowing of the price gap. Customers are becoming less sensitive to brands in those categories, but that doesn't mean food is safe from the trend just yet. Frozen foods are seeing private label growth in the U.K. and Germany, though it still struggles in categories like chocolate and tea due to extreme customer brand loyalty.