Built on trust, improving product quality, and sharper price positioning, private label is gaining omnichannel traction. For small and emerging CPG brands, that shifts the competitive challenge from defending against a cheaper shelf option to understanding where private label is gaining momentum, why it is resonating, and how to respond with sharper differentiation, clearer value, and more precise omnichannel execution.

That said, private label's greatest strength may also be its limitation. Retailer-owned brands tend to excel in established categories where shoppers already understand the need and are looking for trusted value. Emerging brands have a different opportunity – to innovate, challenge category conventions, respond to unmet shopper needs and create demand before competitors arrive.

Private label may be winning more baskets, but can it create the next category, the next occasion or the next consumer obsession? As retailer brands expand their reach across omnichannel commerce, understanding where emerging brands can still create disproportionate value becomes one of the key considerations.

The Signal: Private Label is Now a Scaled CPG Growth Force

Circana data shows that U.S. private label CPG sales have reached $330 billion, accounting for 24% of unit sales and 23% of dollar sales across the total market. In food and beverage, private label already holds 24% value share, making grocery-led channels a clear indicator of change. In Europe, private label accounts for roughly half of all unit sales, while in Australia, it has reached almost 40% unit share and expanding into general merchandise.

These gains have built over several years, accelerated by inflation in 2022 and 2023 and sustained through 2025. But private label is more than a cost-of-living response. It is growing because many shoppers now see such offerings as good enough, trusted, and increasingly differentiated.

Trust is a key inflection point: 80% of shoppers say buying a trusted brand is important. Shoppers increasingly want brands they believe will deliver quality consistently, and many now view private label as comparable to national brands on that front. At the same time, retailers are expanding their own-brand portfolios into premium, wellness-oriented, sustainable, functional and indulgent propositions, particularly in snacking and beverages.

Circana research reveals younger consumers, led by Gen Z, are helping sustain this momentum in the U.S. by increasingly viewing store brands as credible quality choices rather than simply lower-cost substitutes. As private label becomes more competitive across a broader range of shopper missions, emerging brands need to make their difference visible at the point of decision.

The Omnichannel Implication: Retailers Control the Path to Purchase

Private label gains an added advantage in omnichannel because retailers control connected ecosystems that link discovery, shelf placement, digital content, loyalty, pricing, fulfilment and in-store visibility. That makes it easier for own-brand products to be found, compared, and converted across physical and digital touchpoints, especially when product content, branding, and online shopping experiences are well maintained.

This matters because shoppers do not think in channels. They move by mission, need, price sensitivity, convenience and confidence. A shopper may research on mobile, compare in-store, buy through e-commerce, and repeat through a club, bulk-buy environment or app.

Private label wins when the retailer makes its own products consistent and compelling across those moments. For brands, omnichannel execution must be managed as a connected decision system, not a set of disconnected channel plans. 

The Category Risk: CPG Switching Barriers Are Low and Value Signals Are Visible

CPG categories are especially ripe for private label growth because the switching conditions are already there. Many products are repeat-purchase, low-consideration, and easy to compare on price, pack size, claims, availability and perceived quality.

In food and beverage, where private label already has significant value share, the pressure is especially visible. In many categories, private label still carries a meaningful price advantage versus national brands, while also closing the gap on quality, trust, packaging, claims and overall experience.

Channel dynamics reinforce this further. In the U.S., club channels account for nearly half of all private brand growth, underscoring how strongly channel context shapes shopper behavior. In stock-up and big-box environments, shoppers are often weighing value, trust, pack architecture and availability at the same time.

For small and emerging brands, growth depends on knowing where the brand can credibly win, which shopper missions support differentiation, and where channel economics may favor retailer-owned alternatives.

Mission Possible: Where Private Label Is Expanding Next

Private label’s next phase of growth is about deepening relevance across more shopper needs, occasions and decision moments. The big shifts to watch are: 

• Wellness and lifestyle positioning. Private label is increasingly aligning affordability with wellness, sustainability and lifestyle goals, giving shoppers a way to pursue personal priorities without giving up value.

• Less visible differentiation. As retailer brands improve packaging, claims and product experience, shoppers find it harder to tell private label and national brands apart.

• Experience and occasion-based retail. Retailers are extending private label into seasonal moments, meal solutions, restaurant-inspired offers, and more curated shopper occasions reflected in the rise of premium own-brand lines

• Agentic commerce readiness. As automated shopping, substitution and recommendation engines become more influential, private label may benefit from the retailer’s control over product data, availability, ranking logic, retail media and personalization.

  
  

That next phase matters because it moves private label into direct competition with some of the strongest historical brand advantages: wellness, convenience, experience and trust.

The Brand Response: Turn Insight into a Sharper Reason to Choose

Private label is proving it can compete on value, quality and trust across many established categories. But emerging brands have a different advantage: the ability to spot unmet needs, create new occasions and build distinctive brands that shoppers actively seek out.

Winning in this environment requires more than differentiation alone. Brands need to be intentional about where they play, which shopper missions they serve and how they show up across omnichannel touchpoints. The strongest brands will make their value unmistakable, invest where they can win, and use insight to guide innovation, distribution and shopper engagement.

As Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor at Circana, says, “Winning today means putting the consumer first and staying authentic. Brands that build real trust and offer clear value are connecting deeply with shoppers and building lasting loyalty in a highly competitive space.” 

Circana Liquid Data Go® helps small and emerging CPG brands access insight into performance, consumer behaviour, e-commerce trends, and pricing across key retailers. It also helps identify high-potential stores and households to prioritize distribution, merchandising and product launches with more precision. That is the advantage: clearer signals, faster decisions, and a more practical operating model for omnichannel growth.

Discover more in the Circana Liquid Data Go® e-book: Winning in omnichannel: a prioritization playbook for small and emerging CPG brands.