Store brands often cost you less
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, June 10, 2007
What’s in a name?
When it comes to buying groceries, name-brand goods carry both the impression of higher quality and often a heftier price tag than their store-brand counterparts.
But grocery stores are enjoying more and more success in luring consumers away from the Campbell’s and Krafts of the world, substituting Albertson’s and Kroger’s brands in their places. Those shoppers making the switch will find a growing assortment of store-brand products and a few more dollars left in their wallets.
Across the country, consumers are lining up to buy store-brand goods.
About 41 percent of shoppers say they buy store brands, according to a survey released last year for the Private Label Manufacturers Association. That’s up from 36 percent in 2001 and 12 percent in early 1990. Nearly half of the consumers polled say that private-label products comprise as much as 25 percent of their grocery carts. Many respondents also say the quality of store-brand items is just as good as that of name-brand goods.
What sort of store-brand items are they buying? Major grocery stores tend to offer their own alternatives to an array of items, such as canned goods and dry pastas, milk and soda, light bulbs and toilet paper. Certain grocery chains, such as Fred Meyer and Haggen’s, offer both value and premium versions of their own brands.
Fred Meyer, for instance, sells organic jams, maple syrup and fancy crackers under the store’s Premium Select label. It sells value canned goods and cheeses under its FMV label.
The Herald recently conducted a nonscientific sampling of store-brand prices in Snohomish County.
When buying private-label products, consumers could save between 17 percent and 68 percent on peanut butter, crackers and cheese. For a list of 10 items, we saved 47 percent by buying store-brand cola, potato chips and waffles, paying $16.21 versus $30.40 for Diet Coke, Lay’s and Eggo products.
Shoppers should be careful, though. Store brand doesn’t always mean less expensive. In one case, we found Minute Maid frozen orange juice on sale for less than what most stores were charging for their label of juice. Generally, however, stores tend to mark down their product when discounting name brands.
Almost universally, grocery stores offer their version of canned soda for lots less than the Coca-Cola or Pepsi brands. You’ll pay as much as $5.49 for a 12-pack of Diet Coke at Safeway, but you can pick up the store’s own label for as little as $2 for a 12-pack.
Food items aren’t necessarily what shoppers can save on most when buying private labels. We found between 40 percent and 60 percent savings on many household goods. Store-brand toilet paper can bring 43 percent savings, while store-brand ibuprofen will save you 68 percent over name brand.
