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Whole Foods was collapsing when they were purchased. They were going to have to make changes regardless. And at any rate, white label organic foods are just ge
by all_blue_chucks 7y ago
Whole Foods was collapsing when they were purchased. They were going to have to make changes regardless.
And at any rate, white label organic foods are just generic foods (like you find in bags at the bottom of the cereal aisle) that were grown using different types of fertilizers. It's not like "365" is an actual company. It's a label slapped on any number of generic stuff.
- eesmith 7y agoYour second paragraph is overly dismissive. People buy brand-name 'Tylenol' for a high markup over generic acetaminophen, even though they are pharmacologically identical. Instead, your argument seems to reject the idea that Whole Foods - or any brand - has a brand image, and associated cachet, which people are willing to pay for.
- all_blue_chucks 7y agoManufacturer's brands are meaningful. White label brands are not. "Rolex" means a watch made by a specific manufacturer. If instead Rolex just bought arbitrary Chinese watches and put their logo on them, the brand would mean almost nothing. This is the difference between manufacturer's brands and white label brands.
- eesmith 7y agoSo your view is that Tylenol is able to charge excess because McNeil Consumer Healthcare / J&J makes the acetaminophen themselves? Even though there is no meaningful difference in the product vs. a generic brand? Using your brand model, can you explain why Unilever paid $1 billion for Dollar Shave Club, when Dollar Shave Club razors are Dorco products? Speaking of Chinese watches, people by MVMT watches for the brand, yes? (Yes, it's not an 'arbitrary Chinese watch' as MVMT does quality assurance. But brands aren't created on "arbitrary Chinese watches" so I assume you were using hyperbole rather than making a meaningless statement.)
- all_blue_chucks 7y agoYou can spend your money how you like, but you should know that white label products are literally generic products with somebody else's label on them. In fact, the same generic product will often be sold under a number of different labels in some cases. In other cases the same label will have products from entirely different manufacturers. White Label brands tell you nothing about the product.
- eesmith 7y agoYes, I know what white label goods are. But your statement "white Label brands tell you nothing about the product" is not correct. I gave two examples (razors, watches) where people buy white label goods and pay more because of an attached brand. That's because brands don't provide only a product but can also provide a service. That service might be quality management, or it may be cachet, as in "selling a lifestyle". Hence why I point out there's good market evidence that your original statement is "overly dismissive" of brands.
- all_blue_chucks 7y agoI don't mean to dismiss brands. Just white label brands. All it means is that somebody somewhere has decided to slap a label on it. It's like buying a product because one person gave it a good review. Not worthless, but pretty close.
- eesmith 7y agoAgain, I pointed to several examples where people are willing to pay for white label brands. These are also cases where the label was more than "slapped on". Therefore, your original use of terms like "just generic foods" and "slapped on" were indeed overly dismissive of white label brands because it ignored those white label brands which did not follow the practices you described. Indeedm, the 365 brand is one of those which is not simply "slapped on" - https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-whole-foods-365-products-0 https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/10-things-you-didnt-know-ab... .