Private label

[19][20] In the supermarket and grocery store industry, the term private label/brand is almost always used, even if the same product is sold non-exclusively to multiple retailers with different packaging (white label/brand).

[24] Examples of store brands are Simple Truth by Kroger, Great Value by Wal-Mart, Clover Valley by Dollar General, Market Pantry by Target, and Specially Selected by Aldi.

[1] Most private-label store brand products are manufactured by third parties, but companies owned by the retailer make some.

[8] For instance, a vice president of The Kroger Company stated in 2018 that approximately 60% of their private-label products are outsourced.

The remaining 40% is manufactured internally: in 2018, Kroger owned 38 plants, including 19 dairy farms, 10 bakeries, and 2 butcheries, strategically spread across the US.

[28] Most retailers prefer to keep the identity of their suppliers private, and accordingly have non-disclosure clauses in their contracts, making it difficult to determine the producer of a private-label product.

For example, the bags of Kirkland Signature coffee by Costco feature the text "Custom roasted by Starbucks".

[12] Until the early 20th century, their general focus was on delivering quality at a price below that of the national brands.

In their competitive struggle against national brands, low prices were considered more important than quality.

Generic products were first introduced in the United States in 1977,[39][40][41] quickly winning market share from national and private-label brands.

[14][43][44] The term generic can be used as a pejorative toward store brand items that are perceived as bland or cheap.

For instance, Kimberly-Clark makes Huggies diapers, but also produces a Walmart budget version.

[48] Allegedly, some store-brand items are identical to their name-brand counterparts: they are said to be literally the same product, except for the packaging and price.

[53][54] The retailer partners with a bank that issues the cards, funds the credits, and collects payments from customers.