Dutch consumers opted for private labels more often in 2020

Major private labels benefited from the sale increases in supermarkets in the first year of the corona crisis. Brands such as Unox, Lay’s and Hertog Jan were bought much more often, surpassing house brands in revenue growth last year, according to a study by market researcher IRI Nederland, reported ANP.

In the spring there was an increase in buying toilet paper, pasta, frozen products and canned goods. As a result, Page, Edet, Grand Italia, Aviko, Unox, Hak, Bonduelle and John West, for example, were very popular. In addition, coffee brands such as Douwe Egberts, Nescafé, L’OR and Starbucks were sold more often because more people started working remotely.

Brands like Dr. Oetker and Koopmans did well due to the baking trend during the lockdown. Spice brand Verstegen, the Italian cheese brand Galbani and the Mexican brand Santa Maria, benefited strongly because people spent more time on cooking.

The research showed that there were more private labels in the supermarkets for non-perishable products and frozen products. House brands were more dominant in the fresh products category. That explains why the 100 largest private labels showed a stronger increase in sales at 10.7 percent than the market as a whole.

Among the 100 most popular private labels, only 6 of them showed a decrease in the market turnover. These included Mentos and Duyvis.