Store brands! Pretty much every grocery chain has them,
but which ones are actually any good? Keep watching to find out!
Nature's Promise brings many healthy and organic options to Giant Food and Food
Lion grocery stores. Best of all, they're reasonably priced. But for the moment,
this company has some soul-searching to do.
While this brand is usually considered entirely organic, it actually has two
distinct product categories: organic and free-from. Even though it says right on the
company website that all of its items are USDA certified organic, that's not actually the case.
Both varieties feature similar packaging, the only difference being which word comes after
"Promise." It's not a huge deal, as "free-from" products still have no artificial flavors,
artificial preservatives, or synthetic colors. We just wish the distinction were clearer.
You can find Laura Lynn products in only six Southern States. It's
one of the smaller brands on this list, but if you live near an Ingles Market,
it's your friendly Southern neighbor, always around when you need to borrow a cup of sugar.
Alas, Laura Lynn has a lot to learn, especially in the household goods department. According to
a Reddit thread, some customers would rather use poisonous leaves than this
brand's discount toilet paper. On the plus side, it does use geography to its advantage.
Ingles' headquarters and distribution center for Laura Lynn products is in Black Mountain,
North Carolina. This hub is located within 250 miles of all Ingles Supermarkets,
a considerable advantage in terms of freshness. For example, the brand works with Milkco,
which sources 80 percent of all its milk options from within 150 miles of the company headquarters.
Sprouts' private label embraces the Saturday market atmosphere and invites
shoppers to stick around by beefing up the ready-to-eat options. In the last decade,
the company has invested significant resources in the deli department,
building more stores with salad bars and soup stations.
The company associates itself with fresh and organic ingredients while ranking as one of
the healthiest grocery chains in the country. Sprout's store brand supplier has developed a
country-wide logistics chain committed to stocking shelves with organic, natural, and fresh food.
The company's prepared food section and the immense variety of supplements
are worth multiple trips to this growing chain. However,
we've ranked it pretty low, since it's not the cheapest option around.
Aldi saves you money on staple food products by cutting costs everywhere
else. The chain has posted the fastest private brand growth rate in the industry,
outpacing behemoths like AmazonBasics and doubling the growth of Trader Joe's. They've
cleaned their aisles and cut down on frozen food while keeping prices low to capture new customers.
"I thought Aldi was just pre-packaged food."
"And I was like, that's it, I'm going grocery shopping."
A large chunk of the company's sales come from private label offerings. There just
aren't a whole lot of other options inside an Aldi, which stocks over 90
percent private label products. The stores are typically smaller than other chains,
stuffed full of whatever is the cheapest to source at the moment.
There's no better example of this strategy than "Aldi Finds," a rotating collection
of private label home goods at a reduced price. Simply put, Aldi exists to bring
low prices to the basics, though it doesn't offer the widest range of shopping options.
Publix has built a passionate fan base on the back of its private label brand.
This Southeastern grocery giant recognized that customers always returned to certain
brands because they immediately trusted the product's appearance. So the store
focused on upgrading the packaging design of its own products. Publix
assembled a creative team and extensively examined different ways to communicate
with customers through its packaging. And they kept coming back to one word: simple.
Almost 20 years later, the hard work has paid off. Publix's award-winning design
brought uniformity to its offerings that helped shoppers feel comfortable grabbing
their products from the shelves. After a pleasant experience filling up their
pantries with Publix products, customers recognize the company's black and white
logo and colorful splash before even noticing what else is on the shelf.
Good & Gather is the newest store brand on our list, although its history is a
bit older than its release in 2019. It was born after Target combined Simple Balanced,
Archer Farms, and part of Market Pantry into one powerhouse. The brand aimed to
help Target's food products stand out from the competition by uniting under one banner.
As an upstart, G&G had lots of catching up to do. By the end of its first year, it offered more than
2,000 different products and generated upwards of $1 billion in total sales. From
there, Target has been relentlessly adding great snack and meal options
On the brand's first anniversary, G&G announced plans for 600 new items. One year later,
it dropped a plant-based range that featured 30 vegan options,
mostly priced under five dollars. And the best part is that this brand is
just getting started, and it has plenty of plans for the future.
Member's Mark isn't content playing second fiddle to Costco's Kirkland Signature. The
already popular private label is gunning for the crown. Sam's Club has been incredibly
active with Member's Mark in the last decade. First, there was a consolidation
in 2017 that standardized the private label. And now their current rejuvenation focuses
on sustainability and aims to create a brand designed for its members and for the planet.
"Behind every Member's Mark product is a world of good."
If all 11 of the company's objectives are accomplished by 2025, Member's Mark will create
a new standard for private label sustainability. The sweeping changes promise 100 percent cage-free
eggs, 100 percent recycled packaging and paper products, and 100 percent sustainably sourced
seafood. Member's Mark is swinging for the fences, and shoppers are ready to reap the benefits.
Simple Truth has attracted customers by embracing a green identity. Beginning in 2012,
Kroger introduced close to 1,500 different products in their Simple Truth and Simple
Truth Organic lines, all promising to be free from 101 different artificial ingredients.
Simple Truth's success shows that shoppers are ready to go green
if the price remains affordable. But similar to Nature's Promise,
you need to look at Simple Truth's labeling carefully. Not all of the products are organic,
and Kroger was caught in the past using some buzzwords without actually putting the work in.
At one point, the store produced more Fair Trade Certified products through
Simple Truth than any other private label grocery brand in the country.
The brand has kept animal welfare in mind as well by adding over 50 vegan products.
While Simple Truth needs to work on its transparency, there's no denying the numbers.
You don't have to look much farther than the name to figure out why Great
Value has been so successful. As Walmart's private label line,
this brand provides significant utility by offering the cheapest products in the store.
Great Value blows the competition away in one key statistic: consumer packaged goods,
which includes any daily use item that shoppers consistently replace, like food,
clothes, and laundry detergent. Great Value dominates this essential category,
selling 20 percent more than the next leading option. And that makes a lot of sense,
as customers tend to flock to Walmart for the low prices.
Great Value is one of the cheapest ways to grocery shop, although many customers reportedly consider
it the worst private grocery label. But you might be surprised at Great Value's quality if you can
look past the logo. While blind taste tests have shown differences between certain Great
Value products and name brands, some products reputedly taste just like the competition. That
quality combined with Great Value's super low prices makes for an impressive proposition.
"You got yourself a deal."
Trader Joe's marketing strategy has inspired perhaps the most successful cult following
in the grocery business. A variety of goofy labels, cheery staff members, and experimental
offerings have been great for name recognition and bottom lines. The chain got here by building
its reputation on its private brand. According to one study, customers are more interested in Trader
Joe's than any other private label, considering the store brand to be unique and trendy.
The truth, though, is that Trader Joe's products are just repackaged brand names
that work with the chain under sworn secrecy. An in-depth investigation
by Eater found many with the exact same ingredients as national brands,
and Freedom of Information Act requests revealed the secret national brands behind some of TJ's
favorites. The unique feel of these products is really only in the packaging, but the fact that
you're essentially getting discounted versions of real name-brand products is still a major plus.
"Thanks for listening."
The 365 store brand serves a vital role in helping you afford your daily bread.
It's no secret that Whole Foods isn't the cheapest store around. But 365 offers a
more affordable price point while maintaining the same quality as the rest of the store.
The brand's most significant commitment is upholding the 260-ingredient ban that
the rest of the store takes on. Whole Foods holds every 365 product to a high standard
that doesn't allow synthetic coloring, preservatives, or many sweeteners. The
brand further embraces its responsibility as a low-cost option by creating online
home economics courses and classes that cover everything from baking to cleaning.
365 cements its place near the top of our list with its transparency. Not everything
the brand makes is certified organic, and Whole Foods will be the first to let you know that,
as the company's website features a guide to deciphering complicated organic labeling systems.
A typical grocery store is about 50,000 square feet and uses that space to stock nearly
36,000 products. But for Wegmans, that's just not big enough. The company runs stores with sizes
that range between 70,000 to 140,000 square feet, allowing them to stock up to 20,000 more items
than the national average. While Wegmans does offer fresh produce and plenty of national brands,
the real fun of shopping there is checking out the massive aisles full of private label products.
Wegmans sometimes even runs full-scale restaurants inside its mammoth grocery stores. They split most
of their brand products into three separate categories, and they use common sense icons
on every item to help you know what you're buying. The company also continues to focus
on its store brand, shifting around store layouts to highlight its private label.
H-E-B is a Texas-based grocery store that has reached national prominence despite
only having stores in Texas and Mexico. And appropriately enough, the shelves are stocked
with tastes as big as Texas. Local marketing campaigns, like goofy commercials featuring
the San Antonio Spurs, further reinforce the store's Lone Star state bona fides.
"Welcome to the Spurs Retirement Club."
"This is nice."
"Here we have all-you-can-eat H-E-B Prime 1 steaks."
Where you really see this approach shine is in the store's private label. The company's
director of public affairs once explained that with each new product, H-E-B asks itself,
"How are Texans going to receive this?"
While H-E-B is far from the largest grocery store, its shoppers rank it as their most
trusted private label grocer. Simply put, the company is a legend in its home state,
where it has also invested millions in disaster relief to give back.
What else could ever take the top spot? While most store brands try to keep up
with national offerings and cut costs, Kirkland Signature emerges as Costco's secret weapon.
One key to Kirkland's success is that many name brands manufacture store-brand products secretly,
but they don't always hide where their products come from. Costco even slaps the Starbucks logo
on its coffee offerings to ensure you know who roasted it. While we don't know who is behind
every single Kirkland product, we do know that they offer a vast array of items that
are better and cheaper than the brand name. Many grocery store operators claim that their
products can match the national brands, but not many have the test results to back it up.
Kirkland has continued to churn out hits, with a long list of products
that are absolutely worth the cost of a Costco membership. Simply put,
Kirkland combines low cost and high quality in a way that no other store brand can match.