The question of whether Australia’s major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, have too much power or are trying to control what brands we buy is rarely out of the media. But as former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel points out, much of the discussion is driven by vested interests and doesn’t necessarily reflect our interests as consumers. And he argues persuasively against the notion that store brand goods will dominate our shopping habits in the future.
The problem of house brand goods looking suspiciously like their big-grand counterparts is not a new one. Consumer advocate Choice says the practice is on the rise, with supermarkets reserving premium shelf space for their own brands at the expense of other suppliers.
Woolworths has said it plans to double the number of house brands it sells through its supermarkets, reigniting the longstanding battle between those who favour the cheaper prices that house brands bring and those who feel their range of choice is stifled as supermarkets favour their own products over others. But which house brand goods have the biggest market share?
The question of whether supermarket house brands offer the same quality as branded alternatives is one we visit quite frequently This video from Mumbrella demonstrates that whatever the contents of the box, house brand manufacturers (Coles in this case) go to a lot of trouble to make their products look like name brand versions, with similar colours, photos and designs.
