Shoppers In U.K. Are Comfortable Buying Store Brand Foods

A survey of a thousand British food shoppers finds that a majority (55 percent) believe the best of the “own label” (i.e., store or house) brands are as good as national brands, and 63 percent regard “regular” own-label brands the same quality as major brands. The bottom line is that shoppers have grown very comfortable buying store brands in most – but not all – categories. Sixty-one percent of shoppers regard “value” own-label brands as worse than manufacturer brands. Only 27 percent see them as the same. A spokesman for the research company that conducted the survey says the results certainly show the impact of the recession on food shopping. But they also show a longer-term trend: retailers are more sophisticated in developing and marketing their store brands.