Manufacturer brands gained ground over private labels by the end of 2024

The market share of manufacturer brands rose 0.6 percentage points in the last quarter of last year, compared to the same period in 2023, to 54.3%, reversing a downward trend that has been seen for more than a decade, reveal data from the study carried out by Centromarca with Kantar.

The improvement trend was already evident in the third quarter of 2024, even though the market share was 0.4 tenths below that of the period between July and September 2023, at 52.9%.

“It’s a positive dynamic,” Pedro Pimentel, general director of Centromarca, told Jornal Económico (JE). Manufacturer brands lost 2.7 share points between the beginning of 2023 and the end of the first half of 2024 and “recovered that loss almost entirely in the last six months of 2024,” he adds.

Pedro Pimentel justifies this development with the increase in purchasing power of consumers in Portugal, which leads them to opt for higher quality products. “A slightly more favourable economic situation means that people are starting to be a bit more demanding about what they buy,” he says.

Habits have changed between last year and the year before. The growth in consumption at home has slowed, having increased by just 1.3% compared to 2023. “With teleworking decreasing, there are always some meals that we would make at home that we can no longer make, and this is reflected in the growth in consumption at home”, explains Pimentel. The growth in consumption outside the home was 6.3%.

In addition to the greater development of manufacturer brands, the study shows that the growth rate of distribution brands has slowed, increasing by 2.8% in value between 2023 and 2024.

In a geographical comparison, Pedro Pimentel states that Portugal and Spain are “better” than the rest of Western Europe.

“We have to compare on two levels. First, on a macroeconomic level, purchasing power is related to this level. Portugal is experiencing a period of recovery of purchasing power at a higher level than other European countries,” he says. However, “the second level is growth rates. When we talk about consumption alone, Portugal continues to be below other European countries,” he highlights.

Although consumers in Portugal have greater purchasing power, they are “cautious” in their spending. “It’s not because I have an extra 200 euros in my pocket that I’m going to start buying things, this is a relatively static expense, because it takes time for people’s consumption habits to change”, stresses Pimentel.

In Portugal, around 30% of the family budget is allocated to consumption, which is the largest share.

The study reveals that on average, Portuguese consumers visit the supermarket 13 times per month, a number that rises to 17 times for those aged 65 and over. This high number of visits to the supermarket means that Portuguese people's shopping carts are not as full and that consumers are more organized and efficient. This becomes a challenge for brands, which often cease to be a priority when people shop.

“If people go shopping less often and start making purchases at shorter intervals, there may be a change in their shopping carts, because they go to larger supermarkets and may opt for products that are not part of their daily routine,” says Pedro Pimentel.

The CEO concludes that “the data indicates that, in 2025, the brands that best understand these generational changes and adapt more appropriately to new consumer trends will be better positioned for success in an increasingly competitive and dynamic market”.