How Store-Brand Groceries Can Help You Save

Surveys show consumers like private-label products primarily for their prices and perceived value. Grocers like them because they’re profitable; it costs less to produce and sell a store brand than a national brand. Private-label goods can also generate brand loyalty to the store, without a lot of advertising. 

“Retailers’ advertising is, stick the private label product next to the branded product and people will see the price difference,” says Candace Rogers, a researcher at Strategic Resource Group, a grocery-industry market research company based in New York. 

Membership clubs and specialty grocers such as Aldi, Lidl, and Trader Joe’s have built reputations around the price and quality of their private-label goods. Mainstream grocers are increasingly following suit. Large grocery chains now often offer tiers of private-label products to cater to different budgets and tastes. In addition to its flagship Kroger brand, for instance, the megagrocer offers several other private-label options, including Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic for organic and natural foods; Private Selection for premium products; Big K, Smart Way, and Heritage Farm for budget-friendly options, and Mercado for the Latino market.

“Retailers are prioritizing [private label] as a top strategy,” says Jill Blanchard, president of national services at OSMG America, a national broker of consumer packaged goods. 

The margins that manufacturers earn making store brands aren’t as large as they are for their own brands. But they still benefit because producing very large quantities of a major grocer’s store brand results in far lower manufacturing costs per unit. 

“It maximizes efficiency, and with those savings you can run better promotional programs for your own product,” says Burt Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group.

Sometimes, the same companies make both brand-name goods and the private-label products that mimic them. The store-brands will have different names and labels, different packaging, slightly different shapes, colors, or scents, or a somewhat different recipe. 

“It’s a common misconception that private label is always a lesser version,” says Ernest Baskin, associate professor of food, pharma, and healthcare at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Baskin says retailers can require manufacturers to demonstrate that the store-brand product is as good as or better than their own name brand.

Name-brand manufacturers don’t typically disclose that they’re making store brands. But Reynolds Consumer Products, maker of Hefty trash bags and Reynolds Wrap, says on its website that its Presto subsidiary makes private-label storage bags, garbage bags, and plastic wrap. Taylor Farms, which sells its packaged salads and salad-based products through major retailers including Albertsons, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Sam’s Club, Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market, has also been behind some of the salads sold under the Trader Joe’s and Kroger names. 

Manufacturers that focus on supplying products or ingredients for private labels are also part of the mix. BrucePac, for instance, which is based in Oregon, produces cooked meat and poultry for the private-label market. (BrucePac’s cooked chicken, sold under the store-brand labels of 7-Eleven, Amazon Kitchen, H-E-B, Kroger, Meijer, Target, Trader Joe’s, and others, was at the center of a massive recall in 2024, due to the risk of listeria.) Butter behemoth Land O’Lakes doesn’t directly make store-brand products, but it sells dairy items like cheddar cheese, milk powder, and whey to other food makers to use in their snacks, sauces, and other goodies. 

Large retailers may manufacture some of their own store-brand products or gobble up other companies to build their own store brands. Murray’s Cheese, a New York City mainstay, was bought by Kroger in 2017; the cheesemonger now has a presence in more than 1,000 Kroger-owned stores nationwide. 

Ninety-six percent of U.S. grocery shoppers buy store brands at least occasionally, and nearly half—46 percent—buy private brands most or all the time, according to a 2023 report by the Food Marketing Institute, a grocery trade group. Here’s why it’s worthwhile to try more store-brand groceries.

They’ll save you money. Over the course of a year, replacing name-brand groceries with private-label brands can give your budget a significant boost. “For people who buy on sale every week or store brands when practicable, a family of four can save $5,000 a year,” Flickinger says. 

They can match the quality and taste of brand names. Far from being also-rans, store brands can be just as good as—or better than—more well-known labels. When Consumer Reports’ expert taste testers compared 10 private-label pantry staples alongside their store-brand counterparts, they identified numerous store-brand products that equaled or bested those better-known names. Kroger Creamy Ranch dressing, for instance, was deemed superior to the Hidden Ranch version at less than half the price per serving. Aldi Chef’s Cupboard condensed chicken noodle soup was a winner, besting the Campbell’s version, which costs nearly twice as much.

You can find unique offerings. Retailers are increasingly introducing private-label products that have no brand-name counterpart, and consumers are responding. On social media and foodie sites, you’ll find raves about items like Kroger Private Selection Denali Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream, the numerous seasonal pumpkin-flavored offerings from Trader Joe’s, and Wegmans Spicy Tomato Oil. “Aldi’s Specially Selected dark chocolate cashews are a must-have in my family,” says Barbara Nelson Childress, a Consumer 101 contributor from Winston-Salem, N.C. 

You may avoid shrinkflation. Private-label products may be among the last to succumb to this sinister trend, in which manufacturers reduce the size or weight of a product package without lowering the price. “Stop & Shop orange juice is still 64 ounces,” says Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who produces Mouse Print, a website that tracks the small print on product labels and contracts. “Others have gone down to 59 ounces to 52, and I’m now seeing 46 ounces.” 

Flickinger suggests that the large volumes produced by private-label manufacturers create efficiencies of scale that can help discourage shrinkflation. “With private label, the size and weight stay the same,” he says, but while competitors are shrinkflating their products, “retailers can say on the private-label package that you get 25 percent more.” 

Check reviews. CR’s review of private-label staples can help you weed out the whole-wheat bread from the chaff. You can also find numerous posts on Facebook, Quora, Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube from consumers who’ve done their own comparisons or product reviews. 

Compare unit prices. Private-label isn’t always the price winner, especially when a retailer discounts the name brand or accepts manufacturer coupons. So compare prices per ounce or per pound to find out for sure. If your store displays those unit prices, you’re home free. If it doesn’t, or if the prices per unit aren’t uniform, use your smartphone’s calculator or download a free unit-price calculator app. Of the apps we looked at, unit-price calculators developed by Steve Kideckel in the Apple App Store and by Six By Nine Apps in the Google Play Store seemed the most straightforward.

Compare ingredient and nutrition labels. In our comparisons of name-brand and private-label groceries, we found some notable differences in the amounts of sugar and sodium. One product may contain an allergen, such as wheat or almonds, while its competitor may not. And additives like caramel color or BHT (“to preserve freshness”) may be present in one item but not in its doppelganger. 

Just try it! Private label groceries usually cost less than their name-brand counterparts, so the financial risk is generally low. And if you don’t like what you try, it doesn’t hurt to ask the store for your money back.