Does the recipe for winning change whether Private Label is up/down?

Share winners tend to be more active than share losers in both settings

Brand growth: distribution essential

Whether or not PL grows in a category, winning brands are more successful in getting their brands on the shelves of more retailers while losing brands experience a decline in shelf presence. The increase in shelf presence for winners is more pronounced where PL is down (signalling more opportunity to get listed) and the decrease in shelf presence for losers is more pronounced where PL is up (signalling more scarcity of shelf space).

Brand growth: assortment matters

Whether or not PL grows in a category, winning brands are more successful in increasing their share of the category assortment than losing brands that, on average, see their assortment share decline. The respective changes are almost identical irrespective of PL growth or decline. Winners launch more new SKUs, but they are also more likely to add them to their existing assortments rather than replacing other SKUs.

Brand growth: price has a major impact

Whether or not PL grows in a category is strongly linked to the pricing of Private Labels themselves: where PL won share, its prices increased by 27%, where it lost share, they increased by 46%. Whether or not a brand then seizes this opportunity is again linked to its price changes: in categories where PL shares are down, both winners and losers on average experienced price increases that lag behind those of PL, but winners increased prices substantially less than losers (27% vs 41%).