This is the price hike that’s a “breaking point” for consumers’ brand loyalty

As consumer prices rise, national brands are in for a battle loyale as shoppers’ brand allegiances waver.

According to a survey of 1,010 US adults conducted by operations software company DOSS this month, 60% of consumers said they stopped buying a brand they were loyal to this year due to price increases, and 70% said they were less brand loyal now than they were last year.

A 16% price hike is the “breaking point” that pushes consumers to trade down to a cheaper alternative or cut back on the volume they buy (though baby boomers on average make the shift at a 12% increase). A 33% bump is the average threshold to not buy the product altogether, the survey found.

Millennial and Gen Z shoppers, women, and low-income consumers are the most likely to switch brands. However, 52% of those earning more than $100K per year have also said they’ve done so, aligning with a recent Simon-Kucher study that found more high-income shoppers are upping their private label spend.

Biting off: Groceries are hitting wallets hardest, 82% of respondents said, and is the category where consumers are most willing to switch brand allegiances. Grocery prices rose 0.7% month over month in April, the steepest monthly jump since 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And many food categories’ prices are higher than the current 3.8% YoY inflation rate, like ground coffee, beef, and soda, DOSS noted.

Per DOSS, 76% said they’d dropped a food and beverage product they’d been loyal to, while 38% of consumers have cut down on or cut out buying higher-quality food and beverage products. That trade-down could yield significant savings—an April study by NetCredit that analyzed brands sold at Walmart, Target, and Kroger found that consumers could save an average of 40% (and up to 74% on certain products) by trading down from name-brand to private labels.

Higher prices have pushed 41% of consumers to head to discount grocers like Aldi and Lidl more often than they did last year, along with 32% to dollar stores and 27% to club stores like Costco and Sam’s Club, DOSS said. On the flip side, 38% are shopping at traditional supermarkets less.

Consumers also said they dropped loyalty to brands across personal care products (41%), household goods (39%), and dining out (39%).