Shoppers increasingly are taking notice of private-label goods, with 83% of shoppers surveyed by NACS in 2022 reporting awareness that convenience stores sell store-branded products, up from 79% the prior year. In fact, 16% of shoppers who selected convenience sites based on products indicated that unique, generic or private-label products helped them chose a location—noticeably higher than the 13% who reported doing so the year prior.

Economic pressures were not the only catalyst for an increased enthusiasm for private-label products. Shoppers’ desire for unique, innovative and highly differentiated products had significant impact on demand. What’s more, nearly 6% of all convenience shoppers described their reason for shopping that day as, “I want to look around and find something new and interesting.” To help quantify the impact, that equates to 60 shoppers per store, per day, 1,800 per store, per month or a whopping 21,600 per store, per year.

Private-label products can help feed the need for discovery among these “what’s new?” shoppers. For example, Gen Z is far more likely than other generations to try new products, especially with brands that come with a compelling story or signal social beliefs that align with their own.

At 8%, Gen Z (born 1995-2012) had the highest incidence of any generation for “...wanting to look around and find something new and interesting,” nearly four times the incidence of boomers (born 1946-1964). Yet, Gen Z also reported being the least likely to purchase private label from their current convenience location.

Nearly 72% of shoppers surveyed said they would be likely to purchase convenience store private-label products from their current location, driven by 73.8% of millennials (born 1980-1994) and 73.9% of Gen X (born 1965-1979), in contrast to Gen Z at 65.2%. To fully realize the opportunity to grow private-label sales, the convenience channel must work to earn consumer trust with consistency, quality and value.