Big survey, big findings.

What we've heard from our shoppers in recent months about store brands versus nationals led me to question what was happening in the larger world from which our shopper panel is drawn. Our panel isn't large enough to understand differences in demographics across the United States, and I was curious enough about the demographics to post a question about the perceived quality of private labels on a Harris Poll Quick Query. Besides providing fascinating demographic differences, the results of that survey cross-validate what our own shopper panel has been saying and what I've learned from other sources. One example: Almost 50 percent of the younger respondents rated store brand cereals as equal to or better than national brand cereals. Store brands' strength among younger consumers suggests that they can keep growing if retailers don't push them too hard or lock out the nationals that many shoppers continue to prefer.