By Marcy Magiera
The recession and its aftermath in the past five years have helped increase the appeal of store brands for grocery shoppers, but now that the economy is building strength (the stock market turmoil of the past month notwithstanding), consumers are once again beginning to see store brands as less desirable, signaling a renewed opportunity for national brands, Deloitte reports in its “2015 Pantry Study.” This positive turn should extend to licensed food and beverage brands, which have already been having a good run. Sales of food and beverage licensed products increased 4.8% in the U.S. and Canada in 2014, and at $8.71 billion constitute one-third of the market for corporate licensed products, according to The Licensing Letter’s Annual Licensing Business Survey.
Despite large marketing budgets, three out of four packaged goods categories have seen a decline in “must have” brand loyalty since 2011, Deloitte found. National brands of coffee, bottled water, beer, soups, salad dressings, candy, ice cream, energy drinks and frozen food have all lost ground in terms of consumer loyalty, according to the study, while juices, soft drinks, cookies, condiments, meal kits and dairy are among those that have built brand loyalty among consumers.