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US Supermarkets Embrace European-Style Private Label Groceries Amid Tariff Woes
16 Nov
Summary
- Private label grocery sales up 4.2% in past year, outpacing national brands
- US private label share lags Europe, but discounters Aldi and Lidl driving rapid growth
- Walmart, Costco, and other major chains expanding premium private label offerings
As of November 16th, 2025, US supermarkets are increasingly turning to private label groceries to fill their shelves amid the challenges posed by Trump-era tariffs on European imports. Private label sales have risen by 4.2% in the past year, significantly outpacing the 1.1% growth in national brand sales over the same period.
This trend is bringing the US grocery landscape closer to its European counterpart, where private label products make up 39% of total sales—over 20 percentage points higher than in the US. Discount chains like Aldi and Lidl, which have disrupted markets across Europe with their focus on private label goods, are now rapidly expanding their US footprint and driving this shift.
Major US retailers like Walmart and Kroger are responding by devoting more shelf space to their own private label brands, which offer higher profit margins. Walmart, the largest US grocer, now derives a quarter of its $462 billion in annual sales from its private label lines, including the premium "Bettergoods" brand launched in 2024. Industry experts predict the gap between private label prevalence in the US and Europe will continue to narrow in the coming years.
