Grocery inflation in Canada: Private labels here to stay? [Video]

Over the past few years, consumers have been buying more private-label products at the grocery store to save money — and the trend may be here to stay.

Amid renewed investment by grocers in their store-branded offerings, studies show many shoppers no longer see store brands as lower quality than name brands.

“For customers, the private brand is becoming not just a knockoff,” said Annie St-Laurent, senior director for Metro’s private-label portfolio.

“The growth is really good in private label.”

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Grocers’ in-housebrands — like Metro’s Irresistible and Selection, Loblaw’s No Name and President’s Choice, and Sobeys’ Compliments and Panache — tend to be priced lower than their name-brand competitors.

Private-label brands are “having their moment,” according to a report by agriculture-focused co-operative bank CoBank. Shoppers are choosing store brands more often as the recent bout of inflation pushed prices up by double digits …