Thursday, August 13, 2009

Heinz CEO Sees Private-Label Growth Slowing

The Wall Street Journal reports that Chairman and Chief Executive William Johnson of Heinz said that the growth in private-labels will soon diminish as customer's turn back to brand name products. Consumer goods companies like Heinz, Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and Proctor & Gamble Co. (PG) have lost market share in some categories to retailer's lower-priced private-label brands products, which are posting record-high sales at some chains.

But private-label growth appears to be waning, and branded food companies hope to begin to regain some of the share they lost as the economy improves.

"Consumers still prefer leading brands like ours in most businesses," Johnson told shareholders Wednesday at the company's annual meeting.

Do you side with Johnson? Are we going to see a drop in private label sales as the economy picks up? We'd like to hear your thoughts via Twitter.





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