After thirty-one consecutive months of growth, including double digit gains in twelve of them, store brands experienced their first negative month as dollar sales declined 0.8% for the period ending November 5, reports Circana. National brand sales were ahead 0.4% in that span.
But 2023 will still be a good year. Through November 5, store brand dollar sales are up 5.3%; national brands are up 4%. PLMA projects total store brand sales for 2023 will be about $233 billion, an increase of $3 billion over the prior year and an all-time record.
As they have most of the year, store brand unit sales continue to be in the red. But they fared relatively better than national brands last month, shedding 1.3% while national brands lost twice as much, off 2.6%.
Similarly, for the year to date, store brand unit sales are outperforming national brands, coming in at minus 0.2% while national brand unit sales have fallen 2.4%.
The next report from Circana is due December 11 and will be available to PLMA members, along with many other statistics, at the Unify+ portal at membrers.plma.com.