Store brand destinations.

Almost two-thirds of our respondents agreed that "some store's store brands are better than other store's store brands." Comments supporting the statement let us know that some store brands are not just better, they are best. The best ice cream, meat loaf, corn chips, chocolate bark, cookies, salads, coffee blends, frozen rack of lamb, even toilet paper. Note that no one mentioned a best drug or discount store brand of vitamins, herbals, analgesics, first aid products, or other meds where the usage of store brands is very widespread. Presumably, this is because it is hard to know which aspirin, ibuprofen, or herbal mixture is better than another, but something else may be going on, perhaps something to do with the advertising muscle that continues to support name brand name medications.

In any case, grocery store brands are moving out of the world of commodities and into the value-added, and usually more profitable, world of national (now increasingly international) brands. It is also clear that Trader Joe's has built a reputation for store brands that not only differentiates it from other stores but also plays a role in changing many consumers' perceptions of how good store brands can be.

In other cases, as per the Kraft comments above, some consumers are buying store brands because the "prices for name brands are ridiculous." One consumer told us that she'd really like to support branded milk because she believes that more of it comes from family farms, but "the price difference between the branded milk and the store brand is unconscionable. I suspect that the store is keeping the prices of the branded milk higher than they should, but they have us trapped."