Great 'disguised Own Brand' Hunt.

WestonDave

rachel - the "e" indicates that the packaging system works on an averaging basis - basically only something like 1 in 40 items are allowed to be below the marked weight and then only by a very limited amount. The alternative would be to specifically weight every item which presumably would be costly hence they work on the basis that as long as they are nearly all more than the stated amount no-one is being "done"

Clowance

DougWeller wrote:

All bacon the same? Hardly. I can easily tell the difference.
I can't comment on Danish bacon, the last time I cooked any there was a lot of water though.
The bacon I got from Sainsburys recently (whatever their top own brand is, I can't recall) had no fat or water when cooked, and was delicious -- one was maple cured, the other brown sugar. I only buy British bacon now.

I find tescos own streaky bacon best by far, no water . Its c.£1.10 per pack, has been c. £1.69 until recently. When you foreman grill it, just fat comes off not water, other types including back give off lots of water and taste disgusting.

judosteffer

I visited the Mcvities factory some years ago (when in the sixth form at school) to see Hula Hoops being made, basically they came out of a big funnel in the factory roof and then went off into different conveyor belts to be bagged up and packed into boxes by women in hairnets.

each conveyor belt went into a different bag of hula hoops
there was one conveyor belt for:
Normal Hula Hoops
Tescos own brand hula hoops
Tescos VALUE hula hoops
Sainsburys own brand hula hoops
Sainsburys VALUE brand hula hoops
ASDA own brand hula hoops
ASDA VALUE brand hula hoops

etc etc so on and so forth- so there was no difference AT ALL between any of them apart from the bag they were in!!! Needless to say I have always bought own brands ever since.

allanmc

I agree that Lidl's chocolate is absolutely fantastic, particulary the Bellarom Fruit and Nut (it's got yummy hazlenuts in it instead of Beelzebub's yucky almonds). Getting a big bar of excellent quality chocolate for silly money is a bonus. Aldi's chocolate is OK but I wouldn't go any further than that, probably on a par with Tesco OB. Must pop in past Lidls tomorrow to ensure that their quality hasn't dropped since my last visit.

PS: They also do a very cheap, large box of powdered Bellarom chocolate milk drink (like Nesquick). Ideal for the kids and is the nutritional equal of Nesquick according to the figures on each box.

dunncha

Thinking of buying a DVD player. Best advice is to buy the cheapest one you can find with the features you need. (5.1 sound and such like) There is about 4 DVD manufacturers in the world. 2 in China and SONY and Toshiba.

Sony/Toshiba spends a lot of time and effort ensuring their DVD Players only plays the films they would like you to watch. So if you want a multi-region Sony/Toshiba it will cost you a lot more money.

Better idea is to buy a cheap one from Tesco, Safeway or Woolies or any where else you can find one. (a good example is LG or Philips) These usually come from one of the Chinese Manufacturers. These Chinese manufacturers make one DVD player and sell them all around the world with a few software modifications for region coding. This software is easily switched back allowing you to buy your DVD's from anywhere. DVD's from America for example are about half the price we pay in this country. Full details on opening regions can be found on: ((http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks))
:rotfl:

An added bonus is these cheaper DVD Players play VCD's (Video CD) SVCD (Super Video CD) and Mini DVD's as well which Sony/Toshiba won't.

Sony/Toshiba also rebadge cheap DVD Players as their own as well. The list is too long to list but imagine buying a expensive DVD Player and finding its only a cheap one rebadged. A list of these can be found here as well ((http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks))

The same also goes for DVD Recorders
:T

Buttonbear

I honestly don't know how relevant this is now but I used to work for B&Q (left 4 years ago) and all their own-brand ride on mowers were Honda at the time - I did notice someone posted that they received a Rally handbook in theirs too.

Own brand power tools (Performance Power etc.) are normally Black & Decker by any other name - especially the 'mouse' type doo-hickeys. We used to get pretty much equal numbers of both returned because of 'burn outs' so if you can afford a more expensive brand do it - just remember that DeWalt, Mikita etc. are actually Bosch and B&D rebranded to make them more attractive to the tradespeople!!

There was also a post about own-brand paint being Crown - I think it was actually Dulux (ICI) - when they brought out the 'smart paint' (the stuff with teflon-technology) it all had the ICI trademark on it too in small print - keep an eye out because ICI own the patents on millions of chemical products!!

Also on ICI Dulux/Dulux Trade check out the coverage - Dulux (retail branded matt) averages 13m2 per 2.5L tin but trade branded matt averages 15m2 - this is normally just because a tradesperson is better used to making sure the products spreads easily not because it's a better quality! Sandtex (also ICI) made the masonry paint and the designer ranges; Tate, New England, bennetton etc. were ICI too if I recall correctly. The varnishes were Ronseal at the time too I think.

I used to laugh at the amount of people turning their noses up at Glidden paint (the stuff most Schools etc. are painted with) - it's actually ICI too!! The only difference is that on the mixing machines Glidden only has 3 available bases and Dulux Trade has 4 - some colours won't come out the same and there weren't as many Glidden colours available but you can mix a Dulux colour into a Glidden base.

Kitchen and Bathroom paint is just Water-Based eggshell with a mould-guard ingredient added - if you don't have a serious damp/ventilation problem you don't need to get K&B.

Lots of the own brand value range hand tools were also from recognised brands but aren't always made of quality steel/wood etc.

Hope this saves some pennies for those renovating/redecorating!

nathan_thomas

A friend of mine used to work at M&S & like most supermarkets M&S does not physically make anything itself.

There are only a certain number of companies large enough to produce enough quantity of product for the large retailers so most retailers tend to use the same large manufacturers.

While M&S products may come from the big producers - all M&S products are produced to a specific M&S recipe, with top quality ingredients & are approved & tested by M&S at every stage - so though they may be produced by the same manufacturers M&S products arent just standard brand products with different labels - they are usually exclusive recipes !

PS. Major supermarket own brands usually have different cheaper recipes & use cheaper ingredients which is why they are cheaper on the shelves.

Dafne

Might have already been said, but my father used to work for Orion Electronics. They used to make the TVs, videos, DVD players etc. for Bush, Goodmans, Orion, Matsumi and some of the larger brands (I think LG and Panasonic were two, but not 100%)

Anyway, we had a few TVs and whatnot through the discount scheme, which were all pretty much the same, even though they were different brands officially.

M_at

I'm_With_Stupid wrote:

I always have to laugh when people talk about a certain "brand" of computer. I mean I could understand why you'd think that about a TV, or a dishwasher, or a packet of biscuits, but computers actually advertise the brand of all the internal components. The only difference is the case and the warranty. That's why I always just go on reviews when it comes to stuff like this. Two products that look to have the same specs can have completely different performance based on what combination of components are used inside (this goes for all electrical goods).

Sorry but this just aint true. I work in the IT department at work and we've recently had 4 computers all of the same type fail, smoke pours out of the back and the machine overheats.

Computers are not all the same - the different specifications on the power supply components make a big deal. Clean power makes a happy computer.

A high quality fan on the processor will be quieter than a cheaper one.

A Dell or HP Computer will have it's own layout and everything will be easy to get at, possibly without screws. A cheap local manufacturer has to screw everything together with a cheap case.

The number of times I've been caught on a cheap PC case and drawn blood easily tells me that a decent computer is worth the extra.

If you want a computer that will work properly and reliably you should buy a decent brand name computer that is well engineered.

JustCharlie

i used to work in one of the comet stores as a salesperson during college.
Its common knowledge that most products are the same. In the business its called white labels. a lower spec item or a trial usp (unique selling point) is often put in less well branded models to demo it first. thats why next month when the new lg tvs come out there be the first with in built twin digital tuners and hard drives. if they go well you csn bet that before christmas bigger brands in that group, samsung for instance will have them too.


groups i can vaguely remeber being together:

lg, samsung

grundig, philips

hitachi, techwood

funai, pioneer (:eek: ) i know

also look for the own brands aswell. in comet the own brand is proline but the products are made by other people:

tvs by goodmans

laundry by candy

refrigiration by beko etc