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!”

Comments 26

Krissey
  • 3rd Sep 2014 07:13pm

I quite like home brand products for basics like flour, sugar, margarine, bread, but when it comes to stuff like frozen foods etc my preference is for a better brand.

mikeleehm
  • 30th Jun 2014 06:41pm

Just worry if the home brand are safe with the lower quality and cheaper price.

Anonymous
  • 16th Apr 2014 08:50am

I try to buy by taste quality made in aAustralia and then price but it's gett I no harder ever day to buy Australian I Have Recently moved to a regional country area and really had no idea how tuff they are doing it I try to buy local everything but there are sone things that you just can't buy Locally

Anonymous
  • 16th Apr 2014 08:49am

I try to buy by taste quality made in aAustralia and then price but it's gett I no harder ever day to buy Australian I Have Recently moved to a regional country area and really had no idea how tuff they are doing it I try to buy local everything but there are sone things that you just can't buy Locally

JJsAngel
  • 13th Apr 2014 11:26am

Some home brands are starting to improve in quality but there are certain products that I wouldn't buy in home brands such as frozen vegetables and toilet paper.

penny farthing
  • 14th Apr 2014 08:59pm
Some home brands are starting to improve in quality but there are certain products that I wouldn't buy in home brands such as frozen vegetables and toilet paper.

I don't quite agree JJsAngel - I buy frozen vegetables from Coles but make sure they are 'Australian'. I also buy their long roll 4 pack toilet paper - 3 ply - $4. Maybe some of the larger 'brand' packs would be cheaper but I just can't be bothered checking all the time. I also walk to do my supermarket shopping and don't want to carry those large packs. Quality wise we are quite happy with both!
I must admit I got caught out with spinach once when I didn't read the label properly - taught me a good lesson! I think, from memory, it was from China - grrrrrrr! My own fault!

Anonymous
  • 22nd Mar 2014 03:38pm

home brands are just so much easier. they are practically the same as the name brand, only cheaper. it's pointless if you get one home brand product. but if you get as many different home brand products as you can?... you can cut down about 20 - 30 dollars on your shopping bill

Anonymous
  • 8th Mar 2014 05:18am

the brands are really good now cant tell difference with most stuff

Kessa1959
  • 21st Jan 2014 12:42am

I will only use home brands if they are the same quality. I am not going to pay for a lesser quality. I have purchased home brands to find there is less product and more liquid so in fact it isn't really a saving.
The one home brand I like is Aldi - they have lesser priced products with the same quality.

JesseKat
  • 15th Nov 2013 11:06am

I must say I have a love, hate relationship with Homebrands , some
can be value for money and others not worth it .What really bugs me is the way the big Supermarkets take your favorites off the shelves and replaces them with Homebrands , that I don't want to even buy. Also moving products around so you can't find them . (really they just stopped stocking it .) Ha ! Ha !

have they just stopped stocking it ? ).

squeekums
  • 4th Nov 2013 06:33pm

No issue with home brand. I buy it for 80% of my shopping as I find very little difference

singledad54
  • 27th Sep 2013 10:30am

Some of the home brands are good, but then others are terrible and are not worth it. However saying that, sometimes it is just a case of buying what you can afford at the time. Pensioners and low income families just do not have the expendable cash to buy the top of the range items and are forced to pick products in line with the amount of money they have to spend at the time. Which is best to have a range of goods or just a few top quality items? Personally, (being a pensioner), I will pick what will give me the best food products I can afford.

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.

Anonymous
  • 15th Jul 2013 11:42pm

this is one of the many reasons i don't shop at woolworths or coles...

PGS
  • 14th Jul 2013 11:45am

Have you noticed that s-l-o-w-l-y the homebrand is Woolies is disappearing and being replaced with the 'Select' version....

Aldi at least keep one range

cazzie
  • 12th Jul 2013 09:38am

Hi It frustrates me to see so many products on the shelf that are home brand or supermarket brands I can never find the products I'm looking for and have to visit several stores just to find the products that I would like to purchase, even then this is hard. The supermarkets flood there stores with their own brands making it impossible for the struggling manufacturer to be able to afford the shelf space in the supermarket. In fact I am now considering not visiting one of my main shopping supermarkets because of this situation.

blondie72
  • 12th Jul 2013 12:36pm
Hi It frustrates me to see so many products on the shelf that are home brand or supermarket brands I can never find the products I'm looking for and have to visit several stores just to find the...

I agree Cazzie! I think the manufacturers of the BRAND names should sell diectlly from their website online...that way they nor us need the Supermarket giants. The manufacturers save money, we save money all just by cutting out the GREEDY middle man - the two supermarket giants!

blondie72
  • 11th Jul 2013 06:28pm

I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big supermarket giants to be honest about WHERE & HOW they source their own products and to tell us what exactly is in them! I would prefer to pay the extra and KNOW where the product comes from ie: overseas location or locally sourced, or made/grown in Australia?

They can't force me to chose their brand - they will only 'force' me to shop elsewhere by taking away my CHOICE to feed/cloth my family in QUALITY products and not cheaply made junk. We should have a say in what we want...afterall we are their customers and without customers you have no business.

seesaw
  • 23rd Jan 2014 11:56am
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

I agree with blondie72,I check all the food products
that I purchase,if they are made overseas,it goes back on the shelf,I remember a supermarket manager saying to me,that he wouldn't buy any can
veges.or fruit coming from overseas,as you don't know whats in the liquid in the cans.its becoming harder to find Australian produce these days.

Heide
  • 22nd Jan 2014 10:06am
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

Blondie I agree totally, I hardly ever buy home brands and then only if "grown, sourced and packaged in Australia". I much prefer to buy brands that have been around for ever and buy Aussie products both grown and sourced whenever I can. It's upsetting that so many Aussie brands now also have "made from local and imported ingredients" why can't they source everything locally? We have the best and freshest food why import from other countries? I for one am happy to pay a bit more for quality products.

cazzie
  • 12th Jul 2013 09:40am
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

Hi
Just wanted to say that I agree entirely I'M FEED UP ALSO

Anonymous
  • 12th Jun 2013 09:53pm

I think home brands are great for certain items, but they can lack quality in others... also sometimes the bigger brands can be cheaper, its worth double checking...

meganodwyer
  • 1st Oct 2013 02:21pm
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

I buy home brand all the time but you have to watch what you buy because they can be a total rip of and tasteless
Agreed

meganodwyer
  • 1st Oct 2013 02:21pm
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

I buy home brand all the time but you have to watch what you buy because they can be a total rip of and tasteless
Agreed

jenz64
  • 28th Jul 2013 01:10am
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

I agree with you nikkinoo ,my local supermarket is very sneaky the home brand items are across the broad dearer than the top brands ,im always double checking prices when im shopping cause i got caught out a few times . i wonder if a cheeky tactic to cheat customers. you naturally presume the home brand would be cheaper ....

s
  • 16th Jun 2013 04:49pm
I'm really annoyed how Woolworths in particular is getting rid of many name brands they have sold for decades and replacing them with their "cheap & nasty" own brand. I DO NOT TRUST these big...

I agree most home brand products do not have the quality, and most of them are made overseas as I purchase mainly Australian products and I check all the labels to see if It is Australian if not, it is not good enough for the basket or trolley I have at the time.
Do not be fooled by products made in New Zealand most of them are imported into New Zealand and are just packaged there!!!