New consumer research suggests the label may be becoming a more powerful competitive weapon than the logo
Brands have dominated American retail for nearly three centuries. Over the past 100 years, they’d grown even more powerful, particularly in grocery. After all, brands enjoy a simple, yet powerful advantage there: Customers know who they are, especially in the fresh category.
Mass advertising, television campaigns, sponsorships, and decades of intensive brand-building created familiarity and trust. In many categories, shoppers didn’t need to scrutinize every package because the brand itself served as a kind of shortcut that did the heavy lifting in terms of scrutiny.
But a new survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) suggests that intellectual “shortcut” is being foreclosed….
According to the organization’s June 2026 Spotlight Survey on nutrition labels, 79% of Americans say they check nutrition or ingredient information on packaging at least sometimes while grocery shopping. Nearly half (47%) say they do so always or often. Just as importantly, 86% report feeling at least somewhat confident interpreting the information they find.
These results should get the attention of every retailer with a private-label program.
Smarter Consumers Are Changing the Landscape
The significance of the findings is not that consumers are reading labels; grocery executives have known that for years.
Rather, the salient point is that consumers increasingly believe, rightly or wrongly, that they understand what they are reading.
And when shoppers begin comparing products attribute by attribute, the competitive picture changes.
The IFIC survey found that consumers are looking for a broad mix of nutritional information. Calories ranked first at 45%, followed by total sugars at 44%, protein at 42%, sodium at 41%, and added sugars at 39%. In other words, shoppers are not just hunting for one “bad” ingredient but evaluating products through a more comprehensive lens that includes both ingredients to limit and nutrients to encourage.
That dynamic plays directly into one of private label’s greatest strengths.
Historically, store brands competed primarily on price. But here in 2026, retailers large and small have spent years (and invested tens of millions) improving ingredient quality. They’ve nixed artificial colors and flavors here, reduced sodium there as they’ve increased protein. They’ve modernized and beautified packaging.
After years of investment and effort, premium private-label lines have become commonplace across grocery, frozen, dairy, prepared foods, and the center store. The result? In many categories, shoppers comparing labels side-by-side may discover nutritional profiles that are remarkably similar.
When that happens, the traditional advantage of brand recognition becomes less decisive.
Whatever the current state of brand loyalty, the largest manufacturers continue to possess enormous advantages in innovation, marketing, and consumer awareness.
But the IFIC data suggests shoppers are increasingly willing and able to “look beyond the logo.”
Consider another survey finding: 80% of Americans say front-of-package nutrition information influences their purchasing decisions at least sometimes. That’s an astonishing figure when viewed through a retail lens. It’s not a stretch to say that packaging information itself has become a primary merchandising vehicle.
Let the Packaging Do the Heavy Lifting
In practical terms, consumers are using the package as a comparison tool. The more that happens, the more grocery shifts from a branding contest to a value contest.
And, as we know, value is not necessarily synonymous with low price.
A retailer that can offer comparable nutrition, cleaner ingredients, and a lower price point suddenly has a compelling story to tell. In many cases, private label can check all three boxes simultaneously.
That’s especially relevant as protein continues to emerge as one of the most sought-after nutritional attributes among consumers. Separate IFIC research earlier this year found that two-thirds of Americans look for nutrition information on the front of packages and that protein-related information is among the most sought-after details.
The broader lesson for retailers is relatively straightforward.
Private label programs have already leveraged cyclical forces like inflation and trade-down behavior to become a $282.8-billion juggernaut with a 21.3% share. Even so, there’s still plenty of room for growth, and it looks like decidedly un-cyclical nutrition transparency and packaging are excellent candidates to fuel future growth.
When shoppers become more comfortable comparing labels, evaluating ingredients, and making nutritional judgments on their own, they naturally become more open to alternatives. In other words, the playing field becomes flatter. Brand equity is still important… but it matters less when consumers believe they can more easily evaluate products for themselves.
For grocery execs, the takeaway is clear: If consumers are increasingly shopping with their eyes on the nutrition panel, then private label should be positioned as the savvy, informed choice.
