Supermarket brands making a mark

Supermarket brands making a mark
Aug 15, 2005

Most New Zealanders consider supermarket own brands offer the same quality and value as other brands, a study shows.

The ACNielsen Online Consumer Opinion Survey polled over 21,100 consumers in 38 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America and South Africa.

It asked consumers what they thought about Supermarket Own Brands as an alternative to other brands in terms of their quality, value for money, packaging and positioning.

A global average of 68% said supermarket own brands were a good alternative - especially in the highly developed private label markets of Australia (79%), Europe (78%), New Zealand (77%), North America (77%) and South Africa (72%).

"In...New Zealand, private label is seen as a viable alternative to branded products with a current 11% share of supermarket sales in New Zealand," said Alistair Watts, managing director, ACNielsen Pacific & Japan.

He said private labels are present in 64% of NZ grocery categories.

When it came to quality and value for money, 80% of Kiwis agreed they were extremely good value for money compared to a global average of 69%. And 72% consider the quality of supermarket brands to be at least as good as the big brands compared to 62% globally.

"Own label brands have evolved to become almost equivalent in quality and closer on pricing in the minds of consumers," said Watts.

However, 40% of Kiwi consumers felt some products were not suitable for private label.

"Consumers may be happy with the quality of private label when it comes to dog food, kitchen towels, sugar and flour, but are less convinced if they're considering, say shampoo, baby food or their favourite pasta sauce, particularly in the less developed markets," said Geoff Smith, Associate Director, Retailer Services, ACNielsen New Zealand.

Just under half of Kiwis (49%) disagreed that private label products had cheap, off-putting packaging compared to a global average of 42%.

And most New Zealanders (58%) did not agree that cheaper items were only intended for people on tight budgets who can't afford the best brands.

"Our survey clearly showed that the longer consumers have been exposed to private label - in terms of years in the market and how highly penetrated it is as a percentage of in store total category volume sales - the better they think about them," said Smith.

http://www.tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425823/603991