One year on his birthday, my brother’s friends brought him a 24-pack of Coca-Cola with candles stuck in the cardboard packaging.

Manufacturers and retailers continually are searching for ways to optimize shopper satisfaction through category management. But while the overall idea remains the same, the ways manufacturers and retailers go about this process changes as trends evolve.

Although discount retailers offer a wide variety of products for one-stop shopping at an affordable price, it’s their consumables selections that having been boosting sales, albeit indirectly.

 According to a study by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research, shoppers believe name brand products are slightly higher in quality than private labels with 51 percent of shoppers indicating that they continue to buy name brand products instead of store brand alternatives because they trust the name.  

 Gourmetti Brands redesigned the packaging of its Chantea line of green tea and aloe vera beverages.  

No matter who you ask or which study you read, consensus suggests that constraint and resourcefulness are the new norms in grocery shopping. Given the still less-than-robust economy, a tight consumer credit market and sluggish consumer confidence, Americans have changed the way they shop. Moreover, many agree that these new behaviors are here to stay. The so-called new consumer — one who is slower to spend and always looking for ways to make $2 buy what $4 once did — is still out there.