Best Choice razor blades, $3.89 for a package of five. The Gillettes I used to buy? $7.62.
That math is a no brainer for anyone trying to stretch personal finances as far as possible in times like these. But might it change our longer run buying habits too?
Growing numbers of us are discovering that a lot of bargain-priced store brand stuff is just as good as the brand names we traditionally buy.
A.C. Nielsen, the television ratings people who in fact measure the relative popularity of just about everything sold in the U.S., report that nearly three out of four of us consider store-brand products to be just as good as higher priced brand names.
Trade groups say sales of private label grocery and drug store products are growing faster than the brand names they compete with. And the Private Label Manufacturers Association, which naturally seems happy with this turn of events, is warning members not to blow their new good fortune as they did in the early 1980s.
Low prices draw consumers to unknown brands, the association says, but it will take matching name brand quality to keep them.
Maybe, maybe not. Kellogg's this week is running cereal specials that match prices on some of the store brands. But while they duke it out, I'm going to check out Aldi's again.
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1 comment:
We've been buying store brand for years. There are very few times that I think name brand makes a difference. For example: I like Hormel chili, and no other brand will do. lol... That's one reason I don't like shopping at Super Wal- Mart -- they have very few store brand items available. Kroger and Aldi do just fine.
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