The more expensive branded product or the cheaper private label from discounters and supermarkets? Often the same manufacturer is behind it. How to recognize this – and how to save when shopping.
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More expensive does not always automatically mean better. Retailers’ own brands are often found next to more expensive branded products – the ingredients and quality are usually similar or the same. The manufacturer is often the same, but the price differences are enormous.
“Anyone who buys private labels often gets good quality for less money,” states Stiftung Warentest. In a long-term evaluation over four years, she checked a total of 1414 products – branded products versus private labels from retailers, which even did slightly better with an average grade of 2.7 than their branded counterparts with a grade of 2.8.
“Consumers can save more when buying private labels than with branded products,” says Sven Reuter, founder of the price comparison app Shmaggle, which can be installed on cell phones, for example. Exceptions are campaign prices of the brands. According to Shmaggle evaluations, retail brands are on average a good 45 percent cheaper than corresponding branded products, which would involve high marketing expenses and development costs.
Whether biscuits, chocolate, yoghurt, milk, canned peas or frozen vegetables and cakes – well-known brand manufacturers such as Lambertz, Storck, Danone, Bauer Milch, Bonduelle, Frosta or Coppenrath & Wiese are behind the retail brands. Not all brand manufacturers are open about the fact that they also produce no-name products for supermarkets and discounters.
From Bonduelle to Griesson de Beukelaer
Canning manufacturer Bonduelle, who also produces peas and corn for Aldi’s “King’s Crown” brand, says on request, for example: “Please understand that the company generally does not comment on private labels.” Pastry manufacturer Griesson de Beukelaer, on the other hand, is more open about it around. In addition to brands such as Prinzen Rolle or Leicht & Cross, the range also includes “a large variety of retail brands”. Lambertz, for example, produces biscuits for Aldi and Norma in the same factory as its fine bakery selection.
Stephan Duphorn suspects that many brand manufacturers would probably shy away from being associated with the cheap line. The self-appointed brand detective, who operates the online Who-to-Wem platform, has been researching for years which manufacturers are behind the trademarks. A hobby, as he says, because his main business is address trading.
Different company name but same address
But how can you tell who is behind the own brands of Aldi, Lidl, Kaufland, Edeka & Co? Sometimes the label reveals who the manufacturer is. Often not, either, because according to food law, only the name and address of the company that puts the product on the market must appear on the packaging – in the case of private labels, that is the dealer.
The Edeka head office in Hamburg is usually specified for the Edeka own brand “Gut und Billig”. But some also name the manufacturers of their own brands – some of them are their own production subsidiaries, some also companies that have specialized in private labels. Rarely are they names of well-known brand manufacturers, but often their subsidiaries, which hardly anyone knows, but which have the same address and telephone number as the brand manufacturer. A look at the imprint and the address of the company or the website of the parent company can help, as some examples show.
Who is behind “Ja” herb butter and “K-Classic” yoghurt
Products from Aldi’s own brand “Milsani”, for example, come from TMA – the company in Leppersdorf, Saxony, belongs to the Theo Müller group of companies. The 1000 gram pot of yoghurt from K-Classic (Kaufland) comes from Mopro Molkereiprodukte Vertriebs-GmbH in Neu-Ulm, which has the same telephone number and address as Milchwerke Schwaben, manufacturer of the 1000 gram pot of yoghurt for the more expensive branded product Weideglück. According to the information on the packaging, Rewe’s “Ja” herb butter is manufactured by Farmland GmbH in Reithmehring. That’s in Wasserburg am Inn, the address and telephone number is exactly the same as that of the brand manufacturer Meggle.
With the production of private labels, classic brand manufacturers can utilize their production capacities or have set up their own production lines. “With a different recipe,” says Christian Wulff, trading expert at the consulting firm PwC, which does not mean any loss of quality.
The Allgäu cheese manufacturer Hochland is behind the processed cheese “K-Classic” (Kaufland), the Allgäu processed cheese “Ja” (Rewe) or the “Hofburger” cheese cold cut from Aldi. In addition to its own branded products such as Hochland, Almette, Grünländer or Patros, it also produces cheaper private labels, which account for almost a third of sales.
What the letter and number code reveals
Especially with animal products such as meat, fish, eggs and milk, it is easy to find out the manufacturer, says brand expert Duphorn. The oval identity mark (veterinary control number) allows conclusions to be drawn about the manufacturer. Consumers can find out who is behind it on the website of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety by entering the number in a corresponding search mask.
The manufacturer behind the code
Code
In the case of animal products, an oval identifier reveals the farm from which the goods come. It starts with DE for Germany or DK for Denmark, followed by the code for the federal state (HH for Hamburg or NI for Lower Saxony, for example), then the sequence of numbers for the company. More information is available at Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety.
Example
In the case of Emmental cheese slices from Edeka’s own brand “Gut und Billig”, only the Edeka headquarters in Hamburg is indicated on the packaging, but the manufacturer can be identified with the veterinary control number in the oval circle: DE BY 70710 EG – DE stands for Germany, BY for Bavaria and the combination of numbers for the company, namely Rupp Lindenberg Produktions GmbH. Not only does it market cheese under its own brands, but also “produces its own brands for retailers according to their specifications,” as stated on the cheese manufacturer’s website. Incidentally, EG stands for origin from the EU.