Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Store brands sold $330 billion worth of goods in the United States, enough to take 24% of units and 23% of dollars across the CPG market, according to two Circana reports released at the end of March and covered by CSP Daily News, Supermarket News, Convenience Store News and Progressive Grocer. Nearly half of the growth behind that number came from a single channel: club stores.

That concentration is the most useful fact in the release for anyone who runs an own-brand program. It says where the volume is moving, and it says something about who is winning it. National grocery chains are adding store-brand share faster than regional players, Circana found, with club channels as the primary driver.

The two reports are Category Transformation or Simply Competition: A Global Private Label Perspective, which covers the European Union, Australia and the U.S., and Private Labels in the U.S.: Meeting Consumers Where They Are, which stays inside the American market. Chicago-based Circana provides technology, AI and data to consumer packaged goods companies, durables manufacturers and retailers, according to Convenience Store News.

One point separates units from dollars

Read the two share figures together. Store brands hold 24% of units and 23% of dollars, a gap of one point on Circana's numbers. Because private label has traditionally sold at a discount to national brands, a dollar share that nearly matches unit share suggests the average store-brand item is now priced close to the market average rather than far beneath it.

An older reference point puts the current numbers in context. An earlier IRI Times & Trends report, published while the economy was still climbing out of recession and covered at the time by CSP Daily News, recorded private-label unit share at 22.8% and dollar share at 17.6% across all outlets. Circana's current figures put unit share at 24% and dollar share at 23%, with the caveat that measurement scope may differ between the two reports.

For a private-brand director deciding which tier gets the next co-manufacturing run, that pattern matters more than the headline total. Circana's own findings point the same way: Convenience Store News reported that elevated private brands have seen outsized innovation, particularly in indulgent snacking and beverages, and that retailers are building premium, functional and wellness-focused lines to compete directly with recognized brands.

Club channels carry the volume, national chains take the share

Club stores accounting for nearly half of all private-brand growth is a striking degree of concentration for a category that spans every aisle. Circana attributes it to consumers seeking sustained value, per Convenience Store News. Progressive Grocer adds that national grocers are pulling ahead of regional retailers in capturing those gains.

For a regional grocer, that is a changed competitive condition rather than a verdict. If the store-brand program is still measured by SKU count or shelf facings, unit share against the club and national-chain benchmarks may be the more honest scorecard now. If the program already tracks share, the question becomes which categories the club channel is pulling volume from.

Food and beverage remains the engine. Store brands hold a 24% value share in those categories, Circana found, and growth is visible across the store, with the strongest recent momentum in what Convenience Store News described as emerging spaces.

Trust has caught up with price

Consumers now report trusting store brands as much as name brands for quality, with that perception strongest in food, beverages and household goods, according to the Circana findings reported by CSP Daily News and Supermarket News. Convenience Store News extends the list to nonfood items such as kitchen and paper goods.

Generation Z is doing much of the pulling. Circana identifies younger shoppers as the primary drivers of the U.S. shift, viewing store brands as legitimate, quality alternatives across the category spectrum, Progressive Grocer reported. Better-for-you products and transparent ingredient lists resonate across age groups but land hardest with that cohort.

Retailers are already acting on it. Progressive Grocer reported that Kroger, Sprouts and Hy-Vee have rolled out new private-label items in early 2026 aimed at health-minded shoppers, including pre-prepared wellness bowls and organic lines. Kroger's tiered approach is not new; the earlier IRI report described the chain growing its brands across a premium tier, a mid-tier banner brand and a value tier, and recommended that retailers generally consider multi-tiered programs to reach a broader set of shoppers.

Sustainability and wellness lines are becoming growth drivers in their own right, Circana found, with private-label loyalists often prioritizing environmentally friendly and health-focused options. Lauren Hazenfield, an industry advisor at Circana, said in the release that deeper consumer connections built through wellness, sustainability and meaningful experiences are essential for retailers seeking durable trust and loyalty.

Europe at 50% is the reference ceiling

In the European Union, private labels hold a 50% unit share, with notable growth in Spain and France, Circana's global report found. The U.S. figure is less than half of that. Retail structures differ enough between the two markets that the EU number should be read as a demonstration of what is possible, not a forecast for the U.S.

Retailers worldwide are investing in product innovation, clean ingredients and sustainable sourcing to build distinct brand equity for their own labels, according to Circana. That is the same playbook Progressive Grocer describes at Kroger, Sprouts and Hy-Vee, which suggests the strategies converging even where penetration levels do not.

Why Circana expects a slower 2026

Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor at Circana, said the outlook through 2026 remains positive but more balanced. Unit share should keep growing, she said, but at a more measured pace as private label moves out of what she called an acceleration phase into a normalized growth cycle, according to Convenience Store News.

The demand drivers she cited are still in place: financial pressure on households, improved quality and trust, strong Gen Z adoption, and the growing influence of loyalty and exclusivity. What is changing is the response from the other side of the shelf. National brands are stepping up innovation, sharpening pricing and amplifying social and digital engagement, Wyatt said, and those moves will shape the trajectory of store-brand growth in the years ahead.

For a CPG brand manager, that is confirmation that the pricing conversation with buyers is about to get harder in exactly the categories where store-brand trust is highest: food, beverages and household staples. For the retailer, it is a warning that the easy share gains of the acceleration phase may be behind them, and that the next gains will cost innovation dollars.

Both sides are leaning on the same instrument. As private brands mature, manufacturers and retailers rely heavily on advanced market data to keep their strategies aligned with shifting shopper preferences, Circana said in the release.

The figure to watch in Circana's next read is not the $330 billion. It is whether dollar share keeps pace with unit share once national brands' sharper pricing reaches the club channel, where nearly half the growth currently sits.