Value is Now the Default: How Retailers Should Rethink Assortment, Pricing and the Shelf

Brand used to guide choice. Increasingly, price is becoming the dominant decision influencer.

Zappi’s 2026 CPG Mega-Trends report shows brand-name-only buying has dropped from 21 percent to just 10 percent in less than a year. At the same time, nearly one-third of shoppers (32 percent) say they will buy the cheapest option that meets their needs — regardless of brand.

This is the result of sustained price pressure that’s weighing down consumers and forcing them to rewire how they make decisions and define value. For CPGs, it challenges traditional pricing-led growth models. For retailers, it creates an opportunity to strengthen margins and deepen loyalty — if the shelf is rebuilt around value.

Private Label is Setting the Standard

Private label has had a glow-up in recent years. More than 80 percent of U.S. consumers now rate private-label food as equal to or better than branded alternatives, and 60 percent of global consumers say the same.

Retailers like Aldi and Trader Joe’s have built entire assortments around this shift, using private label to control pricing, simplify choice, and reinforce value across categories, while private labels like Kirkland are overtaking established brands on quality.

Even with these gains, there’s still a lot of room to grow. Private labels still represent only about 19 percent of U.S. share, compared to more than 25 percent in Europe, leaving clear room for expansion.

For retailers, the role of private label is changing. It's no longer just a margin lever. It's the reference point that shapes how every product on the shelf is evaluated.

The Hybrid Basket Has Replaced Brand Loyalty

Some consumers are not switching from brands to private label, but more frequently they’re trading down to hybrid baskets.

Zappi data shows mixed purchasing — i.e., buying both branded and store-brand products — increased from 53 percent to 67 percent among primary food purchasers in less than a year. Over the same period, brand-only purchasing fell by more than half.

This creates a more competitive shelf. Every purchase is now a decision.

For retailers, this means the shelf must support comparison. Price tiers need to be clear. Private label and national brands need to work together to guide trade-offs, not compete in isolation.

Simplification is Now a Growth Strategy

Consumers are not asking for more choice. They are asking for clearer value.

Nearly 70 percent of shoppers say they would accept fewer options if it meant lower prices. At the same time, retailers and CPGs are already responding: About half of organizations plan to reduce SKU complexity to stay closer to changing consumer needs.

The impact is measurable. Reducing SKU complexity can increase sales growth by 2 percentage points to 5 percentage points and improve margins by up to 400 basis points.

Simplification is not about reducing innovation. It is about focusing it. Double down on your sticky products to innovate pack sizes and variety to make the shelf easier to navigate and make value easier to communicate.

The Shelf is Being Repriced in Real Time

Consumers are actively reshaping how the shelf works. They're trading down, substituting across brands, and building baskets that balance price and preference in real time.

The retailers pulling ahead are those that treat value as a system, aligning private label, branded products and pricing into a structure that reflects how decisions are actually made.

Nataly Kelly is chief marketing officer of Zappi, a consumer insights platform that helps brands win with consumers.