Wollies and Coles imperialists on the food and wine market - take over everything

Private labels are to become more popular, predicts market research company IBISWorld. Sales of the cheaper copies grew during the financial downturn and “shows no sign of turning sour”. Today they account for nearly one quarter of Australia’s $70 billion grocery market, and are set to climb above 30% in the next five years.

In certain sectors, such as dairy, private label growth has been dramatic, with private label milk sales rising from 25% of supermarket milk sales in 1999 to a massive 52% 2009.

“This is due to the common perception that branded products are not necessarily of a higher quality within specific segments of the supermarket, particularly the dairy aisle”, says General Manager (Australia) Robert Bryant in a press release. “The same applies to other staples such as eggs, flour and sugar.”

The biggest growth area was own-brand wine sales. IBISWorld forecasts private labels will account for more than 10% of the Australian wine market by 2013 and sales of private label beers in this country will double over the next three years.

Private labels are most popular with Australia’s low-income families, accounting more than 30% of their grocery bill.

Large brands need to watch out and make sure their brands are long term connected to the market, so people don´t consider them replaceable, but as a part of the family. Even if the economy is back on track and global luxury market has returned to where it was before GFC, consumers are disloyal and independent. They are not going to pay more because you tell them to. This goes for both low-income and high-income households.