Inside The World of “Private Label” Products

Private labels have different names around the world. You might find them “labeled” as store brands, house brands, or own brands. They’re all the same thing – products sold to the public by a single retailer – but each has its own brand identity. Examples include Walmart’s Great Value, No Name by Loblaws in Canada, and CVS’s Well Market. Remarkably, the popularity of private labels among consumers means they can compete with the mega brands they accompany on the shelves.

Rising Prices

Private products aren’t unique to groceries. For instance, Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming platforms make films and TV shows accessible only to subscribers. Similarly, the British casino company Paddy Power has several exclusives and time-limited games among its PP slots. Branded with the Paddy Power name, they’re nevertheless made by developers like Core Gaming and Cayetano.

It’s a neat marketing tool. If a product or service is only available in one place, customers have to visit that place to get it. Private labels are arguably concerned with something else, though – value. It’s less expensive to buy Great Value Dr. Thunder at Walmart than original Dr. Pepper. As of early 2024, the saving is exactly half for a 2L bottle – $1 to Dr. Pepper’s $2. Of course, this saving led to the idea that own brands were low in quality and, perhaps worse, unfashionable. 

The good news is that rising prices have increased the popularity of private labels – in one case, Loblaw’s No Name, in quite a bizarre way. No Name is deliberately bland, with products described exactly as they are. It’s the kind of thing a graphic designer creates in protest. Yet CBC described it as a “muse” for artists. Loblaw’s recent ad campaign for the brand had buildings in Toronto decked out in No Name’s dull yet somehow gaudy (it’s bright yellow) branding. “Building”, it said.

Hopelessly Direct

While this entirely functional design isn’t uncommon among private labels (ASDA’s Just Essentials line in the UK is similar apart from the occasional image), No Name’s apparent lack of charisma had a dramatic effect on social media. Its imagery is so hopelessly direct it’s hard not to laugh. In secret, this was the intended outcome of its recent marketing campaigns. A brand more than 40 years old with little advertising to its credit needed rejuvenating. 

It hasn’t all been good news. Objections to discount shopping point to the unfair advantage private labels have over global brands, as they can access shelf space more easily. They also allow retailers to prioritize their products over independent suppliers, even removing rival brands from the shelves, destroying competition. Finally, stores are usually located in the middle of a product’s journey from field to table, a privileged position when it comes to industry knowledge.

So, while their popularity is soaring, private labels have a mixed reputation. It’s unlikely they’ll ever become truly fashionable. For instance, The yellow of ASDA’s Great Value range seemed to embarrass “poorer families”, serving as more of a “poverty marker” than a means to an end. Still, it’s hard to argue with orange juice for 69p.