PLMA: Millennial eating habits drive opportunity

The changing eating habits of Millennials, packaging innovations, and the growth of premium pet foods and accessories are among the biggest trends impacting private label, Brian Sharoff, president of the Private Label Manufacturers Association told SN. 

“Millennials are spending $500 less per year in supermarkets than the average consumer and almost $1,000 less [in inflation-adjusted dollars] than 25-34-year-olds spent back in 1990," said Sharoff. "So the trend we’re observing is the people in this Millennial age group are buying less, but why? And the clear reason is because they don’t eat the same way. They don’t eat three regular meals, they snack."

Research conducted for PLMA by Surveylab shows that this new way of eating offers an opportunity for snacks to be merchandised in the supermarket’s dairy, deli and bakery departments in particular with three-quarters of Millennial shoppers buying deli items in the supermarket where they do their regular grocery shopping, 77% buying dairy items and 59% buying bakery items. 

The Surveylab research “How Americans Eating Habits are Changing” will be explored Sunday during a session at the PLMA 2016 Private Label Show. The session will run concurrently with a presentation that will explore packaging innovations such as edible packaging. “Even Pets Love Store Brands” will also be presented Sunday. The topic comes at a time when about 59% of American households own at least one pet and owners spend $67.5 billion per year on their pets, according to Mintel.