Salisbury-based Food Lion is offering customers $10 worth of free groceries this month if they buy Food Lion's private label products, the latest move by a grocer to promote their own brands as competition to better-known - and pricier - name brands.
The offer runs through March 29. Customers who buy Food Lion or Home 360 brand products with an MVP Card get a coupon for $1 off their next purchase for the first four products they buy and 25 cents for each product after that, up to $10.
Grocers have been pushing private label products as consumers look to save money in a down economy. The products are typically almost a third cheaper than their national brand counterparts, and consumers have been shedding old perceptions that they are somehow inferior in quality, grocery consultants say.
Private label products have risen to 20 percent of supermarket sales, according to a 2010 Deloitte study that put it bluntly: "Mounting evidence suggests that national brands are losing their hold on the consumer."
You can see the trend at your grocery store, in promotions like Food Lion's and national brands fighting for shelf space with an increasing array of products such as HT Trader, one of Harris Teeter's private labels. Family Dollar has increased its private label product sales to almost one fifth of consumable products, and recently opened an overseas office in Hong Kong to improve its private label sourcing. Walgreens even recently unveiled a private label beer, Big Flats 1901, that scores well on price (50 cents a can) and poorly on taste (skunky, and gave the reviewer in the linked article a headache).
Have you been buying more private label products? Do you think they taste the same and are as high quality?
Maybe the Panthers need to shop at Food Lion, since they'll give you a quarterback... :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous!! I have tried many private label products. Most of the time, they work out just fine. However, on occasion, it has turned out horribly--like the beer incident mentionned. So, I will keep trying, especially if it's for free...
ReplyDeleteactually it's Belgium based company now that its owned by Delhaize.
ReplyDeleteFood Lion Columbian Coffee tastes better to me than Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts. I had all three at once and tested them on consecutive days. It is less than half the price.
ReplyDeleteYeah baby. You better believe they'd have to pay me to buy their trash.
ReplyDeleteI do try to buy store brands at Food Lion, but many times the brand name products are cheaper than the Food Lion brand. Example: I needed to buy shredded mozzarella cheese last night at Food Lion...Kraft Shredded Mozzarella was $2 per 8oz bag and Food Lion's was more expensive...I bought the Kraft brand.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed some brand name products getting considerably worse in quality, too. Green Giant canned veggies, in particular, seem increasingly inedible.
ReplyDelete@5:09 - Eating veggies out of a can automatically makes it inedible. People think they're eating healthy b/c they're eating veggies but have to over-season them to get rid of the 'tin taste'.
ReplyDeleteI have found that the Wal Mart label food tops them all. Their's is top quality and their canned food never have that "tin flavor".
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with them.
I haven't tried Food Lion brand in a few years - had their cereal a few years ago and it was BAD. I do buy Aldi brand, which is comparable or better than national brands - and usually, at least half the price!
ReplyDelete$.25? How many pesos is that?
ReplyDeleteI used to work with a food broker who sold private label items and I will go as far as to say the 90% of the time the product in the can, box, or bag is the same as the national brand. Normally the brand leader in a category does not package private label. example Frito Lay does not pack private label chips so look for Wise, Synders, Utz etc to pack private labels.
ReplyDeleteI will never shop at their nasty store in my neighborhood (Ayrsley). They need to clean that up big-time to get my dollars.
ReplyDeleteI would never shop at Food Lion. I only shop at Trader Joe.
ReplyDeleteLike some of you, I have switched to many Food Lion or Wal-Mart named products. There have been a time or two that I do notice a difference and have stuck with a name brand; but its not on many things. From dog food to soup to scalloped potatoes. Hard to tell the difference most times.
ReplyDeleteOk that first comment about the Panthers getting a quarterback is the most witty comment I've ever read in a comment board like this. Well done!
ReplyDelete