Tesco "Discount Brands"

Enfieldian

Are these just an attempt to insult the intelligence of shoppers?

A load of random made up names that replace Tesco own brand and value products but all have "made for/by Tesco" on their very similar packaging?

And as for pricing..... This week the (their) "Rosewood" frankfurters were £1.99 for 10 and the "Herta" ones were £1.64....

I guess they think that a yellow label with "Discount Brand" printed on it is going to fool a few people?

Pollycat

Enfieldian wrote: »

Are these just an attempt to insult the intelligence of shoppers?

A load of random made up names that replace Tesco own brand and value products but all have "made for/by Tesco" on their very similar packaging?

And as for pricing..... This week the (their) "Rosewood" frankfurters were £1.99 for 10 and the "Herta" ones were £1.64....

I guess they think that a yellow label with "Discount Brand" printed on it is going to fool a few people?[/QUOTE]

I do think that some people will think that discount brands may be cheaper and therefore be 'fooled'.

I sometimes think that their multi pack pricing can be a bit 'off', as can their price differential between smaller & larger packs of the same item.

They have packs of mini cheddars in store:
7 pack for £1.39 = just under 20p per pack (£0.1985p each)
12 pack for £2.25 = just over 20p per pack (£0.2041p each)

Most people would assume that the larger multi-pack would offer the best value.
Not everyone has time to read the 'per 100gm' or 'per pack' ingo of the shelf.

The 12 packs are on BOGOF basis currently so obviously a much better buy at the moment.

trisontana

I think those discount brands were introduced specifically to compete with the likes of Aldi and Lidle who produce a range of own brand products with a lot of different names. One example is "Holly Lane" for Aldi's range of cakes.

DebtHater

There are some items I would buy from the Tesco Discount Range, but some of them as the OP stated are of no better value than brand name.

DrScotsman

A lot of the discount brand items seem to be the value items repackaged, making it look like an attempt for Tesco to stop people from downshifting to their loss leading value range. Some however are similar to their own-brand products (e.g. bacon, tomato puree, lean mince, mature chedder), and are actually good buys as long as there aren't any offers (usually there's a branded cheese on offer, making it cheaper than the discount brand version).

One thing I don't get, when Tesco have a price comparison listing a discount brand product and comparing it with Aldi's price, do Aldi actually stock that product? Do Aldi really stock Daisy washing up items that (I think) say produced for Tesco stores? You can't compare two different branded products like that, even if the branding is fake...

andyrules

Personally, I avoid those brands but do buy some products in the Value range. I've tried a few of the 'discounters' and find the quality is dreadful. Not sure why they introduced it when they already have a perfectly adequate range with 'Value'.

The cynic in me thinks they are actually cashing in on the recession by pricing the discounters higher than Value, or producing it more cheaply.;)

CG19a

The Discount brands were very popular when they first launched. I think the idea was to help people who feel there is a stigma around buying "value" items as they were still buying branded items, even if the brands were unknown.

Tesco also attracted some criticism in the press due to the fact that the discount brands were so successful that their like for like sales were falling due to customers switching to these brands.

Enfieldian

CG19a wrote: »

The Discount brands were very popular when they first launched. I think the idea was to help people who feel there is a stigma around buying "value" items as they were still buying branded items, even if the brands were unknown.

Tesco also attracted some criticism in the press due to the fact that the discount brands were so successful that their like for like sales were falling due to customers switching to these brands.

Yes but these "brands" don't actually exist in the real world, they are all Tesco own products in new packaging and, in most cases, higher prices than the previous own brand/value range products that they replaced.

Sales of OB products would only have fallen because there are less of them packaged that way now.

Anyway, I find myself going to Sainsbury more now, the choice and quality is better....

RobertoMoir

Enfieldian wrote: »

Are these just an attempt to insult the intelligence of shoppers?

A load of random made up names that replace Tesco own brand and value products but all have "made for/by Tesco" on their very similar packaging?

And as for pricing..... This week the (their) "Rosewood" frankfurters were £1.99 for 10 and the "Herta" ones were £1.64....

I guess they think that a yellow label with "Discount Brand" printed on it is going to fool a few people?

I agree its a bit silly but can't see why anyone would be bothered. I either buy or not depending on whether I think the product is a good price and decent quality and then I just get on with my day.

Becles

It's a markeing ploy. Some people are having to move down a brand due to the economic problems, but are not keen to buy Value as the packaging makes it look cheap and nasty (not saying the product is, as I do buy some Value products myself!).

By launching the discount brands, you are paying Value prices, but you're getting something that looks to be better quality.

One of the examples we had at uni was if you had your new in-laws round for dinner and wanted to impress with a roast beef dinner - what would look best on the table - Value horseraddish sauce or Oak Lane horseraddish sauce. Both were similar prices but considerably cheaper than Colmans etc. Another one was having a value brand shampoo in the bathroom for visitors to see, or the All About Shine shampoo which looks similar to Pantene.

mrcol1000

Shock Horror! Supermarket uses marketing ploy to make shoppers buy products!
Well at least thats not an underhand ploy that Sainsburys or Marks and Spencers would use. Giving their products nice names to make people buy them....

By the way Tesco Discount Brands hash browns and garlic bread are much better than anything the big brands can sell.