American consumers have a new attitude that's creating a 'sphere of despair' for Nestle, Unilever, and Procter and Gamble

pulse

August 12, 2017 4:04 PM

Store brands are creating a tough situation for name brands.

Brands are facing an uphill battle.

Retailers from Whole Foods to Walmart are making big bets that consumers are more willing to buy goods without a name brand on them.

A new consumer packaged goods start-up, Brandless

It recently revealed that Amazon is sitting on a slew of private label brands that its developing in-house to compete with existing offerings.

greatly diminished manufacturers’ pricing power," according to Barclays. More consumers are now choosing the lower-priced brands, and there's more of them, meaning brands can no longer set the bar for the price of goods like they once did.

Other factors creating challenges for the big players are a "greater mistrust of iconic brands," customers who are more likely than ever to choose a "local" brand, and "lower barriers to entry"forcompanies to create big brands through social media.

Amazon holds about 90% of the online battery market with its AmazonBasics battery line. The batteries are cheaper than comparable brands, and in the eyes of regular Amazon customers, they perform just as well. That has spelled trouble for the name brand Energizer, according to UBS.

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