Coupons in the News Mentions First Insight | Savvy Grocery Shoppers Seek Out “Dupes” Of More Expensive Brands
Why would ALDI risk lawsuits by designing its store-brand products to look as much as possible like their name-brand equivalents?
Because “dupes” work.
That’s according to a new survey of grocery shoppers by the retail technology company First Insight. “The Quiet Takeover of Private Label” found that acceptance of store-brand products is increasing, and “dupe culture is fueling trial,” as shoppers actually like it when store brands closely mimic the name-brand items they’re modeled on.
44% of all shoppers surveyed – and an overwhelming 70% of the highest-earning shoppers – said they’re more likely to try a private label product “if it’s marketed as a dupe of a high-end product.” In fact, that was the number-one response – more than price or perceived quality – when shoppers were asked what would encourage them to buy private label.
“Smart imitation has become a badge of savvy shopping, especially among younger and wealthier shoppers,” the report stated.
Many shoppers, then, aren’t necessarily fooled into thinking that those “Honey Nut Crispy Oats” are actually Cheerios, just because they look and sound similar. Instead, they’re purposely buying Honey Nut Crispy Oats because they look like a familiar brand they already like, for a much lower price.
That very much plays into ALDI’s business model, in offering a store full of otherwise-unfamiliar private label products, but with visual cues as to what brand name products they replicate.
Yet ALDI has been sued by major brands many times over the years for replicating their look a little too closely – most recently, snack maker Mondelēz filed a federal lawsuit against ALDI last month, accusing it of using “private label product packaging that blatantly copies” several of Mondelēz’s “universally recognizable and iconic brands,” like Oreo, Chips Ahoy and Ritz.
ALDI has previously settled similar cases, agreeing to modify its packaging. But the retailer wouldn’t keep doing it, at the risk of further lawsuits, if the strategy didn’t work.
First Insight says all of this speaks to the importance of packaging. The black-and-white, block-lettered “generic” groceries of old came with a stigma of being cheap and inferior. But modern “branding, packaging, and positioning can completely eliminate any stigma or hesitation,” the First Insight report noted. Whether packages mimic their brand name equivalents, or catch a shopper’s eye in their own right, “it’s about making private label feel like the obvious, quality-first choice.”
Of course, not everyone is fully aware they’re choosing a store brand product when they pull it off the shelf. Good packaging can have a subliminal effect as well. “The traditional distinctions between private labels and national brands have become so subtle that most consumers can’t tell the difference between them,” the report found, which echoes the findings of another recent report by Numerator.
71% of shoppers surveyed by First Insight believed they would be able to recognize a private label product by sight, but when they were shown side-by-side images of store brand and national brand products, 72% couldn’t successfully tell them apart. Among grocery products, only 37% could correctly identify Walmart’s bettergoods plant-based macaroni and cheese as the private label when compared against the national brands Banza and Goodles. And only 31% picked Target’s kindfull pet food as the private label, over national brands Nutro and Wellness.
Overall, First Insight concluded that “private labels are being seen as a smart, value-driven choice, not a cheap compromise.” 77% of consumers say they aren’t concerned about being perceived as cheap or undiscriminating shoppers for buying private label products. Others “don’t even realize, or care, whether the product is private label, as long as it delivers on expectations.”
So whether you accidentally grabbed that box of cereal that kind-of-but-not-quite looks like the national brand, or purposely chose it because you know it’s a good product at a good value, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. According to the shoppers in this survey, “dupes” aren’t just for dopes anymore.
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