Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

The posy about white good manufacturers is very true. As working in a secondhand shop I have had experience of this. The reason is very simple for the big companies. If they are selling one make at very cheap and cheerful prices another at the mid range market and another at the high end of the market (all be them the same or very similar underneath). They effectively capture a share in all of the markets. There will always be people who buy the cheapest, or have more money than sense and want the most expensive, or your average joe who want the middle of the road. Wotever the decision they are quids in and laughing

On a general point of the discussion we did a case study at uni which goes as follows. A company will aim to produce a certain of of product (a tin of baked beans). This target is the amount of product that will provide them with a break even point and all of their costs and over heads have been covered. Therefore anything in excess of this is seen as profit. so instead of producing cans for M & S at 10p a tin they can afford to make more and sell at 7p a tin. otherwise once the M & S order had been fulfilled the line would be idle and no income produced. This is why/how companies can afford to do cheap own brand goods. They usually subsitute the ingredients with slightly cheaper goods but these are usually negliable. Obviously this can cause problems when the main brands realise competitors are getting cheaper goods but hey, that live and the risk the company take. It was once said by Mr Heinz (or one of his crones) that they could not tin water for less than 10p a can........how much are tesco beans 7p????

Cadbury make the chocolates for Marks and Spencers and Thorntons and they are the same chocolate selection as in their own cadbury select boxes. Found this out at christmas when all the boxes had the same chocolates

I was just going to say that, my wife used to work for Thorntons and I'm pretty certain Cadburys don't make stuff for them. As for electrical goods being rebranded, I once opened up a Hitachi 28" widescreen telly to find that the tube and all the major components were Phillips. I was particularly surprised by that as I was under the impression that Hitachi were one of the few companies who actually have a CRT plant....

Rich :¬)