4 ms·

No they're not. All of the grocery stores are engaging in "white-labeling" - buying products from other manufacturers and putting their own label on them. It wo

No they're not. All of the grocery stores are engaging in "white-labeling" - buying products from other manufacturers and putting their own label on them. It would maybe be a valid comparison if Price Chopper took in 50% of all grocery dollars spent in the US, saw what was popular, cloned those products in house and then used the top 80% of shelf space to prominently display their product, and moved the third party competitors to the very bottom shelf. Additionally, Trader Joes ONLY sells white-labelled products, so it is even less applicable than your other examples.

drenvuk 7y ago
Thanks for letting me know.
another 7y ago
> Additionally, Trader Joes ONLY sells white-labelled products, so it is even less applicable... Their mix is heavily skewed toward private-label products, but "ONLY" is not accurate. To pick one example: they sell name-brand beer alongside their private labels.
- jerrycruncher 7y ago
  Fair enough. They also don't slap a Trader Joes marque on the produce they resell.
brokensegue 7y ago
isn't the line between white labeling and competing with cloned products blurry? How much of the manufacturing/creation process must they own for it to no-longer merely be a white label product? Lots of companies contract out manufacturing and it's not automatically white labeling in those cases.
- jerrycruncher 7y ago
  You're right. I think the distinction comes down to companies like Amazon having the kind of vast capital required to not only cut out the middle man but to _become_ the middle man in their own market. In most cases, a market (in the specific sense, like a store or a site) will white label a product and undercut competitors by leveraging the volume/wholesale pricing that they can get. What's truly dangerous about the AMZNs and GOOGs (and Standard Oils and Ma Bells) of the world is that they can use brute monetary force to buy or subsume competition. To quote the legendary SF grifter Jack Black, "You can't win."

drenvuk 7y ago

Thanks for letting me know.

another 7y ago

> Additionally, Trader Joes ONLY sells white-labelled products, so it is even less applicable... Their mix is heavily skewed toward private-label products, but "ONLY" is not accurate. To pick one example: they sell name-brand beer alongside their private labels.

jerrycruncher 7y ago
Fair enough. They also don't slap a Trader Joes marque on the produce they resell.

brokensegue 7y ago

isn't the line between white labeling and competing with cloned products blurry? How much of the manufacturing/creation process must they own for it to no-longer merely be a white label product? Lots of companies contract out manufacturing and it's not automatically white labeling in those cases.

jerrycruncher 7y ago
You're right. I think the distinction comes down to companies like Amazon having the kind of vast capital required to not only cut out the middle man but to _become_ the middle man in their own market. In most cases, a market (in the specific sense, like a store or a site) will white label a product and undercut competitors by leveraging the volume/wholesale pricing that they can get. What's truly dangerous about the AMZNs and GOOGs (and Standard Oils and Ma Bells) of the world is that they can use brute monetary force to buy or subsume competition. To quote the legendary SF grifter Jack Black, "You can't win."