Here's what just happened
Store brands gained ground in the first half of 2026 while national brands lost it, according to new data from the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) and Circana. Over the six months ending June 14, store brand unit sales rose 0.2% while national brand unit sales fell 0.5%, a 0.7-point spread. Store brand unit share hit 23.8%, an all-time high. Unit sales measure the actual number of products sold, not the dollar revenue they generate. In pet care specifically, store brands led all departments tracked by Circana with 4.8% unit growth for the 52 weeks ending June 14.
Why this is actually a big deal
Anyone managing an assortment just watched the scoreboard flip. For years, national brands could raise prices and hold shelf space because loyalty absorbed the increase. That math is breaking. Store brands are now winning the metric that matters most to a store operator: unit velocity. Faster turns mean better cash conversion, and in a market growing slower than inflation, the brand moving more units is the one earning its footage.
The dollar story tells a different tale, store brands were flat in dollar sales year-to-date while national brands added 2.2%, but that gap reflects pricing strategy, not consumer preference. National brands are raising prices to cover costs or lowering them to win back switchers, and the result is revenue that doesn't match the unit trend. Peggy Davies, PLMA President, put it plainly: "Unit sales remain the best measure of consumer choice."
For independent retailers, this is the data point that justifies a margin decision many have been delaying. Store brands deliver higher margin per unit AND faster turns in a slow market. That combination used to be theoretical. Now it's measurable.
What this means for the shelf
For the store owner: Store brand margin is higher, but velocity matters more when you're trying to turn inventory faster in a market that's barely growing. The 4.8% unit growth in pet care isn't a rounding error, it's the category pulling ahead while the rest of the store slows down. If you've been holding private label to a smaller share of your endcap because it "feels right," this is the number that says you can expand that footage and defend it with data. Faster turns mean better cash flow, and in a year where household grocery spending is down, cash flow is the difference between a good quarter and a tight one.
For the buyer/category manager: National brand reps will walk in with price increase letters and promo support offers to hold space. The pitch will be loyalty, heritage, brand recognition. The data says units are declining. You're now subsidizing shelf space for slower turns, and the cost of that subsidy just became visible. Store brands hit 23.8% unit share, that's not a niche play anymore, it's a structural shift. When you're planning the next reset, ask which SKUs are moving units and which are moving dollars on the back of price. The answer tells you where to expand private label and where to cut legacy assortment.
For the brand/DTC operator: You're not just competing with the heritage brands anymore. You're competing with the retailer's own brand, and that brand is gaining unit share while national brands lose it. When you pitch trial, the buyer is now comparing your velocity forecast against a house brand that's already proving it can move faster than established SKUs. Your margin story has to be tighter, your sell-through guarantee has to be real, and your pitch has to answer why a buyer should give you footage instead of expanding the private label block that's already working. The bar just moved.
How we're thinking about it
The headline number, 23.8% unit share, is the all-time high, but the more interesting line is the one about consumer behavior. A Zappi survey cited in the report found a sharp drop in consumers who say they only buy national brands, and more than 90% changed their shopping behavior because of rising costs. That's not a post-pandemic correction, it's a loyalty collapse. The same survey found most consumers would accept fewer options in exchange for lower prices. Translation: the era of paying for brand recognition because "that's what customers want" is over. Customers want value, and they're voting with units.
We're also watching the disconnect between unit sales and dollar sales. National brands added 2.2% in dollar sales while losing 0.5% in units. That's a pricing strategy, not a growth strategy, and it works until it doesn't. Some brands are lowering prices to win back switchers; others are raising them to cover costs. The result is revenue that doesn't reflect what's actually moving off the shelf. For a buyer trying to plan Q4, dollar sales are a lagging indicator. Units are the leading one.
Unit sales remain the best measure of consumer choice, and the midyear results underscore the continued strength and growing appeal of private label.
The pet care number, 4.8% unit growth for store brands, is the one we'd screenshot. It's the fastest-growing department in the data set, and it's pulling ahead while the rest of the store slows. If you run a pet specialty store, that's your category outperforming grocery, and the growth is coming from house brands, not the legacy assortment. That's a margin opportunity most operators are still underweighting.
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What to do about it
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If you're running a single-location store and private label is less than 20% of your pet care footage... pull your recent turn data by SKU. Rank by units sold, not dollars. Identify the slowest-turning national brand SKUs in your core categories and swap one for a house brand trial. Give it a trial period and compare turn rate. If it moves faster, expand.
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If you're a buyer managing a multi-location assortment... build a simple unit-vs-dollar matrix for your key SKUs. Flag anything where dollar sales are up but units are flat or down, that's a price increase masking a velocity problem. Use that list to negotiate your next reset. National brand reps will push promo support to hold space; you now have the data to say no and reallocate footage to private label.
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If you're a brand operator pitching independents... rewrite your deck to lead with unit velocity, not just margin or story. Buyers are now comparing you to house brands that are proving they can move units faster than heritage SKUs. Your pitch has to answer: why will this SKU turn faster than the private label option the buyer already has? If you can't answer that with data or a sell-through guarantee, you're asking for a favor, not offering a business case.
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If you're planning Q4 inventory buys... weight your private label orders heavier than you did last year. The 4.8% unit growth in pet care isn't a one-quarter blip, it's a six-month trend, and it's accelerating while national brands lose ground. Faster turns mean better cash flow heading into the holidays, and in a slow-growth market, cash flow is the margin of safety you need.
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If you're a distributor or rep watching this data... start building private label programs for your independent accounts if you haven't already. The buyers you call on are reading the same numbers, and the next conversation is going to be about how you help them expand house brand footage, not how you defend the legacy assortment. The reps who lead that conversation win the next round of shelf resets.
The Bottom Line
Store brands just hit an all-time high in unit share while national brands lost volume. In a slow-growth market, the winner is the brand moving more units, not the one raising prices to protect revenue. If you're still planning your assortment on brand loyalty, the data says your customers already moved on.