The latest news from Cafestudy

The Rise of the Home Brands

The latest news from Cafestudy

Posted by: Caféstudy

21st May 2013 12:07pm

Recently, we asked you what you thought of the rise of the supermarket home brand and here is what you said:

The things you like about home brands – well, perhaps not surprisingly, top of the list is more money in your pocket! Never mind the quality, if there’s a saving you’ll take it. Particularly in the case of staple items – bread, flour, pasta and so on. This doesn’t apply to all categories of products though – when it comes to personal hygiene or products for your kids, or even your favourite tuna, quality comes first!

Home brands are not all good news though. According to some of you, the home brands are taking away from and replacing your favourite brands, and not everyone is convinced that their quality is as good as their old favourites. Jan also dislikes “the sneaky way the home brands go about it by using the same colours, designs etc as the named brands so that sometimes you actually buy them by mistake.”

Another big concern is that home brands are not Australian. Lyn says, “The issues become a problem when the home brand products start to be imported for overseas & the branded & "Australian Made" products start to disappear from the shelves.”

But the view of many is - don’t be snobby about home brands. If they taste the same or do the same, why waste money! And If you can’t make up your mind what to go for, why don’t you follow Chemosa’s suggestion of blind testing - “and if you cannot tell the difference, buy the cheapest!”

TEACH
  • 16th Sep 2013 09:36pm

Ho! Hum! The easy solution is 'don't shop at Woolworth's, Coles or IGA' or any of their derivatives. My other nickname is Lord Aldi & their catalogue is referred to, by my friends, as the 'B.A.T.L.' (Bible According To L.....). They support Australian growers & manufacturers (gold & silver prize winning stuff in the dairy area), no artificial colours, flavours & additives or preservatives, 60 day money back guarantee, up to 3 year manufacturer's warranty. Clear labelling as to country of origin. Did I hear someone scream support AUSTRALIA? I do whenever it is practicable? But, I recognise that food security is a world wide problem which should be treated as such. The attitude of 'I'm all right Jack so bugger you mate' gives me the dry heaves. After Religion, Nationalism has caused more deaths throughout history than smoking, alcohol, murder, motor cars & suicide combined (religion wins hands down & continues to do so). Our total population is less than the population of Tokyo & Jakarta, about the same as Seoul......plus the total population of NSW is less than the population of the biggest 46 cities in the world. Our land area is 7,618,000 sq. kms and we use very little of it to grow & manufacture items. More sunshine than most other countries, more hot rocks, gas, iron ore & coal. Where are the closed circuit permaculture farms, fish farms, shell fish farms, etc., etc.? Too few and/or under-resourced because WE DO NOT HAVE THE BODIES OR THE MONEY TO RESOURCE THEM. What a load of crap about not letting other countries invest in Australian Land & Food Production, further crap about keeping people out of Australia, even more crap from climate change deniers (if world climate did not change we would all be anaerobic bacteria oozing around in the slime on a planet with very little oxygen or later: wandering around Pangaea amongst the ferns in a reptilian guise).
Home brands were originally developed to standardise packaging with limited colours to make them cheaper. My concern has always been:-
What percentage of the cost is brand generated & what percentage is product generated. I fear that in many instances we are paying more for the name than we are for the product. That is anathema. If we are to pay more we must be getting a better deal in terms of quality, food security or support for those who need it. In many instances we are actually paying for the failure of successive governments to develop efficient and effective infrastructure. Why was the Snowy Mountains Authority disbanded when it could have been reconstituted as the Australian Standard Gauge Rail Authority or the Monsoonal Water Pipeline Authority or the Mineral Survey Authority or the Solar Power Authority or the whole bloody lot one after the other. Then there was the Futures fund of the Howard/Costello years. What a shocking waste of financial resources to fuel infrastructure, jobs, research, & even an NBN.


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