What Are Private Label Goods?

Private label goods are products sold by retail stores that are also produced by the same retail store. For example, Ralphs supermarket will sell Tropicana orange juice and right next to it will sell its own brand of orange juice. Private label products are always less expensive than brand name products because they need to be able to compete with the big brands. They save money by not having to spend money on distribution channels and advertising since they have their own.

Private Label’s Growing Popularity

In the past, private label brands have been seen as inferior to brand name products. More recently however, private label brands are growing in popularity most likely due to the economy and growing trust in private labels. One of the first very popular private label brand that I can think of is Kirkland. Kirkland is Costco’s private brand. They create the products themselves and sell it right next to the national brands in Costco retail stores. Kirkland makes everything from vitamin supplements to apple juice. Kirkland has become extremely popular and consumer trust in private labels has grown and grown.

Buying Private Label

One of the biggest hurdles private labels had to jump was gaining consumer trust. Generally, they have succeeded in this task. To save money, I have been buying private label brands for a little while now. They are generally 10-20% less than national brands and are almost identical. If you have your favorite item by a national brand that you absolutely love, by all means buy it. However, most products there will be little to no difference in quality. Go ahead and try it out. Buy your favorite national brand product and buy one of the private label products and test the difference. I’m certain you will be pleasantly surprised. Saving 10-20% on half the products you buy at stores will save you a ton of money by the end of the year.