Store Brand Unit Share Hits Record 23.7% as National Brands Shed Volume

Private label captured 23.7% of unit share in 2026, a record, after outgrowing national brands in unit sales by a full percentage point over the ten months ended Nov. 1. Store brand unit sales rose 0.1% across the period, while national brands declined 0.9%, according to Circana, the market data provider retained by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA).

The share shift is structural, not episodic. Store brands have beaten national brands in unit sales in ten of the eleven reporting periods so far this year. Dollar sales tell a different story, and one that rewards scrutiny.

Where the dollar numbers diverge

As of Nov. 1, store brand dollar sales were up 0.3% year to date, with gains recorded in five of Circana's reporting periods. Store brand dollar share stands at 21%. National brands, despite losing units all year, posted dollar sales growth of 1.9% — a result PLMA attributes largely to aggressive pricing strategies.

That gap deserves emphasis. National brands grew dollars while shrinking volume. The margin came from price, not demand. Store brands grew both, marginally.

Which departments moved?

Circana monitors eleven product departments for PLMA. For the 52 weeks ended Nov. 1, five departments posted store brand unit sales gains and seven recorded store brand dollar sales increases.

Unit sales gainers:

• Pet Care: +2.8%
• Beverages: +2.3%
• Refrigerated: +1.9%
• General Food: +0.3%
• Frozen: +0.3%

Dollar sales gainers:

• Auto: +6.3%
• Beverages: +5.6%
• Frozen: +3%
• Pet Care: +2.6%
• General Food: +2.2%
• General Merchandise: +2.2%
• Home Essentials: +1.1%
• Beauty: flat

Beverages and Pet Care appear on both lists. Auto leads dollars without appearing among unit gainers — a pricing effect, again, not a volume effect. The department-level splits are the one place where the underlying data permits a clean separation of price from volume; the headline figures do not.

What did shoppers save?

PLMA frames the shift as a consumer response to difficult economic times, with shoppers discovering quality and performance at significant savings. By midyear, U.S. shoppers had saved $20.5 billion buying store brand versions of grocery products instead of national brands, according to a PLMA analysis of Circana data.

The per-unit arithmetic is concrete. In the first half of 2026, the average price of a store brand product was $4.14 against $4.79 for the average national brand product — a 65-cent difference, or 14% per unit.

That figure is a claimed saving, not a measured one. It compares average prices across assortments that differ in mix, size and category weighting. A shopper who trades down saves money; whether the average saving across all baskets equals 14% is an assertion the analysis supports only partially.

What the record does not say

The 23.7% unit share record says nothing about distributor or retailer margins on those units. Private label typically carries higher gross margin percentage for the retailer and lower absolute price for the shopper. PLMA does not disclose margin data here. Circana measures point-of-sale movement; it does not measure channel profitability.

Nor does the release state the dollar sales performance of national brands by department, which would show where pricing held and where it did not. The one-point unit gap is measured. The claim that consumers are "experiencing product quality" is asserted, and PLMA has an obvious interest in asserting it.

What comes next

Store brands enter the final reporting period of 2026 with unit share momentum in ten of eleven periods and dollar gains now positive. If national brands sustain 1.9% dollar growth on shrinking volume, expect further pricing friction in 2027 as retailers push private label into the departments — Auto, Beverages, Frozen — where store brand dollars are already compounding fastest.