Store brands have surged by 40% plus in mass retail channel over the last five years, far outpacing national brands. Store brands are proving to be a powerful weapon for mass merchandisers, club stores, and dollar stores as they compete against both Amazon and other brick-and-mortar retailers.

Younger consumers are especially open to unbranded goods, with 51% of millennials saying they have no preference between national or store brands, and half also say they'd buy even more private labels if there were more to choose from, according to Gartner L2's Amazon Intelligence: Private Label report.

According to a study from the Private Label Manufacturers Association using data from Nielsen:

• Private label dollar volume in the mass retail channel surged +41% over the last five years, compared to a gain of only +7.4% for national brands.
• Store brands volume climbed by +33.2%, while national brands inched ahead by less than +1%.
• In 2018, private label dollar sales advanced +9.8% and unit volume gained +10.6%. In contrast, national brands were flat in dollar volume and gave up -1.3% in units.
• Over the past five years dollar volume for the mass channel has climbed +12.6%, while unit volume was up +6.4%.
• Total sales in the mass channel has reached $314 billion vs. $330 billion in supermarkets.
• During 2018, store brands sales across all outlets measured by Nielsen came in at $128.6 billion, up from $123.1 billion, while units moved up to 46.2 billion from 44.8 billion.