Research & Trends: Collaboration Drives Private Label Success

By Brian Kilcourse, Retail Systems Research

In RSR's 2008 benchmark report, PLM Squared: Product Lifecycle Management Powers Private Label Merchandise, we stated that "Private label merchandise certainly has top of mind awareness across the retail ecosystem. Any potential recessionary trends only exacerbate the need to grow this portion of the merchandise mix." This trend has been driven by the dual challenges to create more value for consumers and more profitability for the company, both of which were more difficult to achieve in the Great Recession of 2009. RSR declared 2009 to be "The Year Of The Existing Customer," and winning retailers continued and even accelerated their programs to create more value for cost-conscious shoppers while still bringing earnings growth to the bottom line even in our difficult economic climate.