PLMA e-scanner June 29, 2024

Nominations are now being accepted for PLMA's 2024 Salute to Excellence Awards® competition.

The annual program recognizes outstanding store brand food, beverage, kitchen, household and health and beauty products introduced on the shelves of supermarkets, drug chains, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs, convenience stores and specialty retailers, as well as online.

Products that have been introduced within the past 12 months and are currently available for purchase in stores and/or online are eligible.

Entries will be evaluated by a panel of professional and consumer judges on taste and sensory appeal, packaging, product concept, and value for money. Non-food products are judged on innovation and concept, sensory, presentation and value for money.

The winners will be announced at PLMA’s “The Store Brands Phenomenon 2024 - Empowering the Retail Industry” Private Label Trade Show, November 17-19, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Chicago. Nominations will be accepted until July 15.

Click here to make a nomination.

More than half (55%) of shoppers have increased their purchases of private label products over the past year, according to the 2024 Power of Private Brands report from FMI—The Food Industry Association. This compares to 28% of consumers who said they purchased more national brand products during the prior 12 months.

"Our research suggests that private brands are no longer just about offering a cost-effective alternative; they are about delivering quality, creating new experiences, and highlighting unique values that resonate deeply with today's consumers," Steve Markenson, vice president of Research & Insights for FMI, said in a statement. “In turn, retailers have recognized their portfolio serves as a strategic differentiator and an extension of their brand narrative to shoppers.”

From skincare to makeup: The beauty market shines. Retailers in all channels are offering head-to-toe solutions for the beauty consumer. Among many other examples:

• Aldi: Lacura day and night cream and makeup-removing towelettes.
• Sephora: The Sephora Collection includes makeup, tools, skin care products and more. New items include a lacquer lipstick, cream contour stick, volumizing mascara, eyeshadow primer, and clear false eyelash glue.
• Target: Goodfellow & Co men’s grooming products, including shampoo, conditioner, beard oil and facial scrub.
• Albertsons Cos.: Signature Care cherry almond scented lotion, oil-free eye makeup remover, foaming facial cleanser and dry touch sunscreen lotion.
• CVS Pharmacy: one+other self-care staples, including barber shears, nail shapers, nail clippers, cotton balls and slant tweezers.
• Family Dollar: Levitate Beauty, a collection of cleansers, serums, moisturizers, and more.

These and many other categories and segments will be showcased in a dedicated beauty and cosmetics pavilion at PLMA’s “The Store Brands Phenomenon 2024 Annual Private Label Trade Show, November 17-19 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Chicago.

Beauty and cosmetic products will join foods, beverages and other nonfoods on exhibit at the Private Label Trade Show. More than 1,700 exhibitors and 2,800 booths will also showcase wine and spirits, shelf-stable foods and beverages, refrigerated and frozen foods, flavors and ingredients, authentic international foods and nonfoods, self-care, baby care, household goods, kitchenware, general merchandise, sustainable packaging, pet care, and much more.

CLICK HERE for registration information.

Watch our news report on the beauty boom here.

Sprouts Farmers Market has launched a limited-time line of cherry-flavored foods and beverages. Among the items: cherry chocolate gelato, cherry dark chocolate brownie mix, dark chocolate cherry popcorn; and cherry blossom-flavored lemonade.

New to the frozens department at H-E-B are snack-size filled pancakes. They come in two flavors: blueberry and peanut butter & jelly.

Heinen's introduced cold-pressed juice shots. Made with vegan and vegetarian ingredients, the 2-ounce refrigerated juice shots come in several flavors, including Turmeric Ginger Immunity, Organic Wheatgrass, and Collagen with Aronia, Blackberry and Pineapple.

Wegmans Food Markets’ new gluten-free snacks include baked jalapeno cheese puffs; baked potato crisps and sour cream and onion baked potato crisps.

2.53%

Grocery and beverage store sales gains in May 2024 vs. a year ago unadjusted. The rise was 1.97% month-over-month seasonally adjusted, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor.

Gerry Galloway of FoodReady, a software company that helps automate and streamline food safety compliance, spoke at a recent Lunch and Learn PLMA Speaker Series presentation about Rule 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The full presentation is free to PLMA members.

Click here for more information about Lunch and Learn.

“We underwent extensive benchmarking and analysis and identified a partner to help develop high-quality products that were comparable to the leading national brand while offering a value of more than 30%.”

Bob Eddy, chairman and chief executive officer, BJ’s Wholesale Club, speaking in a Q1 2024 earnings conference call about the launch of private label food storage bags.