Private Labels and U.S. Innovativeness

Private labels are truly conquering the U.S. retail shelves and consumer mind-space, at least in some categories. Well the basis of this post is this post on Google's Official CPG Blog, so all the stats I mention are derived from the Google blog and their sources are mentioned in that blog.

Ok, so 59 % U.S. consumers are willing to substitute brands with private labels (or generics as Google refers to them initially), but only 12 % are willing to do the same for kids' products. Makes sense.

No wonder then that 1800 new "private-label" food products (27 % of all food products introduced) have been introduced in U.S. in first half of 2009. And private-label manufacturers are getting the hang of the game. Now they know that value is not always = low price. It could be different.

Good. But its midnight and my mind pauses to ponder - 1800 new private label products form 27% of all food products. That means that in six months, 6666 new food products were introduced. That's 36.83 food products a day and 1.53 new food product an hour.

So that's how Americans are using the recession - churning out new recipes (thankfully for food and not for derivatives). And oh btw, it also clarifies, why obesity is an ongoing trend :). But all said and done, this innovative streak is what makes the U.S. economy a great one.

More later.