NEW YORK — Shoppers who prefer national brands consume significantly more apparel than those who are partial to private labels, according to data released Monday by NPD Group.
That’s not necessarily good news for the nation’s apparel merchants, who are projected to boost their offer of private label clothing to 50 percent of their assortments, on average, by year-end, up from 47 percent in 2005, based on the estimates of Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD.
At department stores, people who prefer national brands spent $114 on apparel per capita in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, or 2.7 times more than the $42 spent there by those who like private labels better, NPD found. At chain stores, by comparison, customers with a bigger appetite for national brands spent 58 percent more on clothes per capita than did private label partisans, or $68 versus $43. And at discount stores, where national brands cost less by virtue of the setting, the gap was a relatively slight $4, with $41 expended per capita by the national brand cohort, compared with $37, on average, by the private label crowd.
“As the presence of [national] brands declines, stores will need to rely increasingly on fewer, more powerful brands, including a mix of old and new names,” Cohen said. “Stores will no longer be able to rely on the same old megabrands.”
In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, people who favor national brands bought 4.4 pieces of apparel per capita in department stores; 4.1 of them per person in chain stores and 7.3 apparel products each in discount stores, according to NPD. By comparison, in the same period, those partial to private labels purchased only 2.1 items of clothing per capita in department stores; three pieces, on average, in chain stores and 3.6 apparel products in discount stores.
While private label styles are often the go-to goods for stores in search of better profit margins, Cohen noted they are not a panacea and can be trumped by proprietary brands with special features such as moisture and stain management treatments. Exclusive brands like those by Champion’s C9 and Danskin’s Freestyle collection at Target are among the proprietary labels Cohen said are performing well.
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Not surprisingly, the average price paid for a garment in the year ended last September was consistently higher among those who prefer national brands. It amounted to $30.81 at department stores, 42 percent more than the $21.70 expended by those who favor private labels; $21.99 at chain stores, or 33 percent more than the $16.50 shelled out by those partial to private labels, and $13.37 at discount stores, 12 percent more than the $11.93 spent by private label loyalists.