House Brands

Generally we don't recommend house brands as they (1) do not disclose who supplies the product - you don't know 'where your dollar is going', and (2) channel money to the big supermarket chains. Supermarket owned brands (known as 'private label' or generic 'house brands') command a 23 per cent market share, expected to rise to 30 per cent in the near future. House brands mean big profits for supermarkets. As major supermarket chains give more shelf space to their own brand items, name brand products are squeezed off the shelves. This means less choice, both for customers, with the disappearance of familiar brands, and for Australian farmers and manufacturers, who often find that they must sell through the supermarkets' own brands. They are forced to compete with cheaper, often heavily subsidised, foreign imports.