A new study of supermarket prices by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) reveals shoppers could save, on average, almost a third off their grocery bill by filling their seasonal market baskets with the retailer's brand rather than with pricier national brands.
The research tracked the pricing for 40 typical grocery items over a six-week period at a conventional, suburban supermarket in the northeast.
Included in those items tracked were cold-weather pantry staples like stuffing, cranberry sauce, soup, oatmeal, pancake mix, maple syrup and hot chocolate, as well as wintertime personal necessities such as lip balm, body lotion, cough drops, sinus spray, tissue and nighttime cold medicine.
For every category in the study, a leading national brand product was compared to a similar store brand product and prices were adjusted to account for all known discounts, coupons and promotions available for each of the six shopping visits in the study.
When buying the name brands, the 40-item purchase came to $130.78 on average over six separate trips while the same purchases for the generic brands cost an average of $86.85.
That's a savings of about $44. Something to consider now that many of us have more festive things to spend our hard-earned money on.
Among individual food items, the cost savings ranged as high as 46% on a 2-liter bottle of soda, 40% on maple syrup and oatmeal, 38% on packaged macaroni and cheese, and 36% on ice cream, pasta sauce and hot dogs.
The savings on the non-food items were even greater. The generic aspirin cost an average of 62% less than its name brand counterpart. Generic body lotion, sinus spray, facial tissue, and aluminum foil all were about 50% cheaper.
In all instances, the store brand cost less than the national brand.
In a recent study by GfK Roper, two-thirds of shoppers who changed their food buying habits as a result of economic conditions say they are purchasing generic products in categories where they used to buy only national brand items.
Looking ahead, the data indicates this trend will continue.
Eight out of ten respondents say when the economy returns to normal they will still buy the retailer's brand where previously only the national brands would do.
A separate study by Epsilon Targeting confirmed that consumers are forsaking national brands across a wide range of categories, including 75% of respondents who say they switched to store brands for household products, 74% for foods, 59% for health and personal care products, and 27% for pet care.
