Shoppers Shift to Own Label in Personal Care

Private label penetration in the personal care category in the UK is growing as the credit crunch bites, according to new research from Datamonitor.

It reports private label penetration in personal care products stood at 17% in the UK in 2007 compared to a 40% average for grocery overall. But recent consumer survey results have identified a shift to private label in personal care, it says.

The research company says there has been a move to the discounter channel for purchases of personal care products too, impacting branded players further.

According to its research, 61% of consumers use supermarkets and hypermarkets as their main shopping channel for personal care products but 8% use discounters as their main channel – the number two destination for these lines.

In addition, channel switching intentions for personal care products are high, it says. Datamonitor found 14% of shoppers planned to switch channels and a quarter of switchers said they would migrate to discounters.

“The notion of affordable luxuries when it comes to personal care products has the firm emphasis on affordable, in this recession at least,” said Siddika Jaffer, director of consulting for EMEA consumer markets with Datamonitor.

Branded players in personal care are doing all they can to hold on to their levels of penetration and market share, Datamonitor says.

However, it remains to be seen how long they will be able to continue to sell products on promotion and how ready they are for consumers migrating to discount channels.