If you work in retail then you are interested in profit, not making a good deal for your customers. If the proper branded product gives you a nice 37% margin (w

If you work in retail then you are interested in profit, not making a good deal for your customers. If the proper branded product gives you a nice 37% margin (with that being 37% of a proper price), what is the incentive for selling something with a lower margin at a lower price? The proper branded products have some distribution arrangements that mean you cannot sell their stuff at a low price, i.e. lower than everyone else. This is not 'price fixing' in a way the government can outlaw. Salesman from brand simply phones retailer's buyer and has a few words, implicit being the threat not to re-supply them. Large buyers will have negotiated a better price so long as they sell at the agreed price, clearly this privilege goes if they break their part of the deal, so next time they will have to buy at the official trade price, which is higher than what they need to make a profit. Ma and Pa stores don't have the bargaining position - they buy from a 'cash 'n' carry' that might be supplied by another distributor (and an importer) all levels taking a percentage. They can stock 'off brand' products, but, even in a Ma and Pa store every square foot has to pay for itself, so why sell a low value, low margin, low $$$ turnover product? Supermarkets sell own brand alongside branded products to present choice so you can buy big bottles of water at a price you would think does not make it worth them to stock. But check out the lunch purchases aisle, we are back to branded products at normal retail prices. There is no conspiracy just capitalism and 'free market' practices. Having said that, water does have competition from a) the tap and b) the natural world. If you really wanted cheap water you could always run a tap (in the first world) or even collect your own rain water, filtering accordingly.