2012 Private Label Beverages & Contract Packing in the U.S.

Additional Information

Report Excerpt

Private label carbonated soft drinks have outperformed the overall category in three out of the last four years.

• Branded products like Coke, Pepsi and Dr Pepper dominate but the vast size of the category has created an opportunity for private label brands, which are purchased by value-conscious consumers.



• For the most part, the branded company leaders have done an effective job at blunting further inroads of private label through strong marketing of their products, gaining widespread distribution, and pricing their products so that they can be afforded by a mass market.



• Historically, private label has always played a role in the industry. Generally, its share has fluctuated over time within a relatively narrow band. This share has tended to grow when the price gap between nationally branded products and private label is wider and its share has shrunk when the price gap has been narrower.



• Private label soft drinks – like most private label products – tend to appeal to very price conscious consumers – those with large families who are likely to consume products in large quantities as well as those with low incomes.



• The weakened economy has perhaps broadened the number of consumers that would consider a private label carbonated soft drink today.

Higher costs in the last couple years have impacted both private label and branded products. Big name brands like Pepsi and Coke have been forced to raise prices but private label has had to essentially follow suit.

• This change has impacted private label performance and forced many of the private label brands to emphasize quality and other attributes.



• Rather than relying only on lower prices, many private label CSD programs in the 1980s and 1990s embarked on campaigns aimed at attaining “national brand equivalency,” whose marketing efforts centered on “compare and save” promotions highlighting not only lower prices but also quality comparable to national brands.



• Nevertheless, the primary reason consumers reach for private label carbonated soft drinks remains price. The leading private label CSD supplier – Cott Corporation – has worked to improve efficiencies in its operations to be able to retain the pricing advantage to make private labels desirable to some consumers.