Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

meggyloo

i used to load vans for a company that made clothes for m&s and they would put a diffrent label in the £180 womens suits and sell them to wholesale warehouses and other places

the amount of time i would notice them in windows in local womens cloths shops for £30 or market stalls
no wonder m&s are in trouble

this is still the case today

mrwibble

Just been looking at petrol strimmers in B&Q - the Ryobi machines and the own brand Performance Power ones look identical in terms of the motor and a number of core components. Stampings and the internal parts I saw were identical with indents and machine marks (scratches) in the same positions so I assume that the core power plant (and possibly the drive train to the head but I need to check as far as I can see) is the same to gain scale economies. The differences relate to the user interface - the handle appears better, jazzier paintwork and plastic housings. Not sure about guarantee but based on the key components the own-brand looks a bargain if it lasts only 3 years - most of the £40 electrics last only a couple of years based on my experience - the £20 own-brands a year if you are lucky.

The bottom end machine is on special offer at the moment in-store only - £49.95 compared to £79 and £89 for the similar Ryobi.

bagand96

Anyone looking to buy a FREEVIEW box at the moment. Asda and Tesco are both selling boxes at £34.97. These boxes are the same, but are also the same as the Goodmands GDB3 which will set you back £45+ as well as the same as a couple of Bush and Alba Boxes.

The boxes are all made by a Turkish company called Vestel and although the plastic and the badge may be different they're all the same box. They are branded Pacific (at Asda) and Digilogic (at Tesco).

pmd

I don't like buying Nestle products because of 3rd-world baby-milk. I do like eating shredded-wheat-type cereal, and I buy Sainsbury's Miniwheats.

Does anyone out there know for sure whether these are made by Nestle for Sainsbury or not?

before_hollywood

bagand96 wrote:

Anyone looking to buy a FREEVIEW box at the moment. Asda and Tesco are both selling boxes at £34.97. These boxes are the same, but are also the same as the Goodmands GDB3 which will set you back £45+ as well as the same as a couple of Bush and Alba Boxes.

The boxes are all made by a Turkish company called Vestel and although the plastic and the badge may be different they're all the same box. They are branded Pacific (at Asda) and Digilogic (at Tesco).

bagand96 is right,
the full story is, that most cheaper freeview boxes are made by vestel, these include matsui and techwood at currys and dixons, all (i think) alba, bush, goodmans and even (i think) hitachi? not sure about thomson? maybe someone could shed some light on the situation?
it's true about the digilogic and pacific boxes, the only boxes i have seen for under £50 that are definitely made by the name on the front are by sagem and humax (although humax boxes are nearer 60).
has anyone else noticed that the digilogic dvd player in tesco looks exactly the same as last years pacific base model at asda?
if you go in some asda stores its still on display even though they replaced it last year :rotfl:
i'm not joking :rolleyes:

fairmorn308

natalie1980 wrote:

Marks and Spencer Soup made by Baxters
Chocolates made by Thorntons
Milk by Robert Wiseman Daries
Most of the ready made meals by Sun Valley
Chicken by Grampian
Bread by British Bakeries

I know coz I work for m&s

Baxters make waitrose soup aswell.

I work for Baxters

rebus_2

my hubby used to work for Burtons Biscuits (ABfoods), they make all of Marks and Spencer's shortbread as well as ASDA and tesco, the only difference being that Markies pay for top quality ingredients. And just for the record, WAGON WHEELS are smaller than they used to be!!!
I also know that ALBA (lower end of the market) are made by Sony, I can't see past the fancy exterior of the Sony!! (but have started to but ALBA as things wear out and they're just as good)
Happy shopping

bbruce

I recently found out AEG is now made by Electrolux and is the same underneath as Zanussi. When you look closely, it becomes apparent.
My old AEG washing machine was expensive and good (second only to Miele) but became uneconomical to repair when a replacement motor costs the same a new budget machine.
As AEG new prices have fallen to Zanussi levels recently, maybe their parts will too.
Looks like the only quality independent brand is now Miele! They are excellent but must have a limited market so maybe it's just a matter of time before they get gobbled up!

Searcher

cattie wrote:

Having known 2 people who worked for Heinz for many years I was told that Heinz do not make products for any other label or company other than their own.

It's the same with Kellogg's I'm given to understand. You can always tell the difference between their cereals & shop's own brands. They just don't compare.

I worked at Kellogg's many years ago as a subcontractor, their slogan at the time was "if it doesn't say Kellogg's ON the box it isn't Kellogg's IN the box". As far as I know this still holds true.

Chuckman

Since there has been a couple of requests of a thread round-up. I've made an attempt at this and it can be found at the link below:

Round up

Please use this thread to post any corrections.