Key Takeaways Summary Block
- Retailers resist brand price hikes amid inflation and tariff pressure
- Private label product launches surge in response to brand conflicts
- Brands face volume loss from retailer delistings and shopper trade-down
- Alliances like Concordis strengthen retailer bargaining power
- 2025 marks a turning point in the retailers vs consumer brands price war
Retailers Strip Shelves as Inflation Disrupts Pricing Power
At Dutch grocery chain Albert Heijn, shoppers this spring found entire product lines missing from shelves. The reason wasn’t supply chain delays — it was strategic defiance. In a clash over proposed price increases, the supermarket temporarily delisted products from coffee roaster JDE Peet’s, setting the tone for a season of friction between retailers and global brands.
The move was one of several flashpoints across Europe and North America, where retailers are resisting price hikes by consumer goods makers squeezed by rising tariffs, labor costs, and commodity inflation. The outcome is an unusual inversion of market dynamics: brands are losing pricing power just as their cost base surges.
“We all should be very well aware of consumer budgets,” said Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, which owns U.S. supermarket chains like Food Lion and Stop & Shop. “That [raising prices] is the wrong way of supporting customers and the wrong way of growing the business.”
Retailers Push Back
Conversations between retailers and brands over pricing have always been fraught. But in today’s environment — where global supply shocks and inflation persist — supermarkets are increasingly unwilling to absorb higher costs or pass them on to shoppers.
Beiersdorf, maker of Nivea, faced an unusually tough stance from retailers in Germany and France last quarter. According to CEO Vincent Warnery, not only did retailers reject proposed price hikes, some demanded outright reductions. The standoff resulted in selective delistings that shaved two percentage points off the company’s European sales growth.
Retailers have also become more sophisticated in justifying their resistance. Ahold, for example, uses in-house commodity tracking and cost modeling to benchmark vendor price requests — and can quickly deploy private label alternatives when those requests overshoot.
“We don’t just say yes or no,” Muller said. “We verify.”
The Brands’ Dilemma
Manufacturers, for their part, argue they’re battling the same inflationary pressures — from shipping and capital to packaging and ingredients.
Tide detergent maker Procter & Gamble last week announced a mid-single-digit price increase on a quarter of its U.S. product portfolio. The goal: to offset rising tariffs on imported goods. The move will affect shelf prices at mass retailers including Walmart and Target.
Analysts expect the pressure to continue. “Some price changes will be accepted by retailers — and some won’t,” said Bobby Gibbs, a partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman. “It depends on brand loyalty and how well retailers can substitute.”
Gibbs noted that private-label growth has shifted the negotiating landscape. “Retailers now have data to measure customer switching behavior. They’re willing to be bolder on delistings.”
Alliances and Alternatives
In Europe, that boldness is becoming institutional. Last month, Carrefour announced a new buying alliance — Concordis — with rival Coopérative U, seeking greater leverage in supplier talks. The alliance is in advanced discussions with other supermarket groups to expand its footprint.
The private-label strategy is central to this shift. Ahold said it has launched 300 new store-brand products across its U.S. operations this year, and that sales in that segment are outpacing the rest of the business.
Brand leaders are taking notice. P&G’s CFO Andre Schulten acknowledged that retailers are pursuing “more aggressive pricing” on private-label goods, creating “some level of pressure” as consumers trade down. He described the landscape as “volatile and challenging.”
Breaking the Mold
The fractures in traditional pricing relationships come at a time when many multinational brands are still recovering from pandemic-era supply disruptions. Now, the backdrop includes geopolitical tensions, a resurgent trade war, and stubborn inflation — all of which are raising input costs across categories like coffee, cocoa, and aluminum.
Reuters’ global tariff tracker reports that more than 100 companies have announced price increases tied to trade measures this year, with consumer firms heavily represented.
Yet for retailers, the calculus is changing. “Protecting volume over price is the new mantra,” said Gibbs. “The brands that can’t adapt may see their shelf space shrink.”
For shoppers, the result may be more private-label choices and fewer familiar names. For the industry, it marks a critical juncture: in a high-cost, low-tolerance world, pricing power is no longer a given — even for the biggest names in the aisle.
