How to compete with private labels that copy your products and packaging

How can a brand compete with private labels that copy it?

A brand competes with private labels by being impossible to mistake and worth paying for. That means owning the cues a copy cannot borrow, widening the quality gap with product innovation, and giving people a feeling no store brand offers. Price matching is a game the retailer sets the rules for.

The pressure is real. Private label reached a 38.8 per cent share across 17 European markets in 2025. The figure comes from NielsenIQ data published by PLMA, the private label manufacturers' trade body (PLMA, 2026). In the year to July 2024, private label sales grew 6 per cent against 4 per cent for manufacturers' brands (PLMA, 2024).

At IW Agency, we see the answer in three parts that run through this guide:

• Unmistakable: nobody buys the copy by accident.

• Better: there is a product reason to pay more.

• Wanted: there is an emotional reason to choose you again.

Conclusion: A copy can borrow your colours, not your meaning.

What do you need before you start?

Before you start, you need three things: evidence from the shelf, a shared brief across marketing and R&D, and a clear view of what the brand stands for. Without them, the work shrinks to a packaging refresh.

1. Shelf evidence.

   • Photograph your category in the main chains.

   • Note which lookalikes sit next to you and what they borrow.

2. A joint brief.

   • Marketing can redesign a pack on its own.

   • Widening the quality gap takes R&D and marketing working together.

3. A clear platform.

   • A redesign needs to know what the brand stands for, or it has nothing to hold on to.

   • A brand platform is where that starts.

We think the third is the step most teams skip. They go straight to design and end up with a fresher pack that says nothing new.

How do you find out what the copy is borrowing?

Find out which cues shoppers use to recognise you, then check which of those the lookalike has taken. The answer is usually narrower than you expect.

1. List your distinctive assets: colour, name, pack shape, typography, character, claims.

2. Test recognition. Show shoppers fragments of the pack and see which ones still say your name.

3. Map the overlap. Mark the assets the copy shares. Those assets now sell a competitor's product.

Research points to the same cues. In a small qualitative study of 37 interviewees, 43 per cent said they had bought a copycat believing it was the market leader. They gave two reasons: a similar colour scheme and a similar product name (Oguz, Marsden et al., Design Research Society, c. 2022).

A review commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office found that lookalikes are better received when the leader is absent. When the leader is on the shelf, shoppers use the lookalike for comparison (Johnson, Gibson & Freeman, IPO, 2013). In practice, the copy borrows your credibility.

How do you make the packaging harder to copy?

Make recognition depend on a whole system rather than a single cue anyone can imitate. A colour is easy to copy. A character, a structure and a voice used together are much harder.

1. Keep the equity.

   • Never drop an asset shoppers rely on.

   • Sharpen it instead.

2. Add ownable layers.

   • A pack shape, an illustration style, a character or a voice on pack.

   • Choose things that are costly or awkward to imitate closely.

3. Build it as a system.

   • Design for the whole range, so the brand block reads from across the aisle.

4. Use the copy as a benchmark.

   • If the lookalike still passes for you at a distance, keep going.

That was the starting point for our work with Göteborgskex. Private labels had grown by imitating Swedish cookie classics, and the category had become crowded, dustier and less engaging. A tidier pack would not have fixed that. The brand needed to look like nothing else on the shelf.

How do you widen the quality gap with product innovation?

Launch things a private label cannot make quickly: new formats, recipes, textures or uses that set a standard the copies have to chase. Packaging tells people the brand is different. The product has to prove it.

The research supports doing both. A study of 22,623 respondents in 23 countries found that national brands widen the perceived quality gap "not only through product innovation but also by distinctive packaging" (Steenkamp, van Heerde & Geyskens, Journal of Marketing Research, 2010). The same study found that willingness to pay falls as private labels mature. In mature markets, the authors conclude, the route to success is a return to manufacturing basics.

1. Find what the copy does badly. Look at taste, texture, convenience and provenance.

2. Innovate where the copy is slow. New formats and limited editions keep the brand a step ahead.

3. Make it visible. Show the difference on pack. Shoppers will not pay for an innovation they cannot see.

We think the order matters where store brands are mature. Get the product truth right first, then use design to show it.

How do you give people an emotional reason to choose you?

Turn the brand's history, character and place in people's lives into something they feel at the shelf. Private labels compete on value. Few of them compete on love.

1. Name the feeling. A childhood memory, a ritual, a moment. Be specific.

2. Make it current. Heritage works when it feels alive rather than dusty.

3. Carry it everywhere. Use it on pack, on social, in store and in the way the brand speaks.

OLW shows what is at stake. As private labels multiplied, OLW risked losing some of its emotional edge in Swedes' hearts. Ballerina and Champis faced the same question from a different angle: how a classic stays relevant without losing what made it loved.

Conclusion: Store brands sell value. Loved brands sell meaning.

How do you know it is working?

It is working when shoppers stop confusing you with the copy and no longer need a promotion to pick you. Watch for these signs:

1. Shoppers recognise your pack from fragments the copy does not share.

2. Your price premium holds without deeper promotions.

3. Existing buyers buy again more often.

4. Retailers ask for your innovations, not just your price.

What does this mean for your brand?

• Audit before you redesign. Know which assets the copy is borrowing before you change anything.

• Protect your equity. Sharpen the assets shoppers recognise rather than replacing them.

• Pair design with product. Distinctive packaging without innovation is a promise without proof.

• Invest in feeling. Emotion is the hardest thing for a store brand to copy.

• Measure the gap. Track recognition and price premium, not only market share.

Frequently asked questions

Is lookalike packaging illegal?

That depends on national law and the facts of each case, so it is a question for an IP lawyer. Even where legal action is possible, it rarely solves the commercial problem on its own. Making the brand harder to mistake does more.

Should we cut prices to compete with private labels?

Rarely as a strategy. Price cuts shrink the gap that justifies choosing the brand, and the retailer can always go lower. Spend the effort on reasons to pay more.

Which categories are most exposed to private labels?

In Germany, the UK and France, private label made its strongest gains in Confectionery & Snacks and in Perishable Food (PLMA, 2026). Brands in those categories have the least time to wait.

How long does it take to compete with private labels?

There is no standard timeline. A packaging system can usually move faster than product innovation, which depends on development and production cycles.

Making the copy irrelevant

Lookalikes win when a brand has become a colour code and a price point. They lose ground when the brand is unmistakable, better and wanted. To talk about where your brand stands against private labels, write to hello@iwagency.com.

Sources

• Private Label Share Consolidates Its Strong Position in Europe — PLMA, 2026

• European private label sales rose to 355 billion € last 'year' — PLMA, 2024

• The Impact of Lookalikes: Similar packaging and fast-moving consumer goods — UK Intellectual Property Office, 2013

• What Makes Consumers Willing to Pay a Price Premium for National Brands over Private Labels? — Journal of Marketing Research, 2010

• How consumers interpret visually similar packaging — Design Research Society, c. 2022