Sub-Brands, Subsidiaries, Own Brands, Wholly Owned Companies
Where does it stop. You will be amazed at just how many products are actually owned by the big corporate stores you are shopping in. I do not think I am actually going to show you anywhere near the number of sub-brands, subsidiaries or wholly owned manufacturers for the selected companies in this post let alone the other major corporate enterprises out there.
As I work through this I wonder "why are these companies allowed to get away with this?" I look at this like false advertising and deceptive sales methods. When browsing the aisles looking for the product you want, I bet if you knew who made or owns the brand you are thinking of buying, you would definitely think twice about buying the product. Don't get me wrong, some of these "own" brands are top notch, others not so much. However, it is also often the case that these "own brands" are the products you need, other brands are not in stock or not available and the product is a great price. Maybe they wont last as long as another brand, but when you need a tool or product it is usually on the shelf. Although, it might only be on the shelf because these "own brands" are stocked in preference over other brands.
Some companies are fairly open about the products and brands they own, but many are not. Some examples of companies that are somewhat open about their brands are Kmart, Woolworths and Coles.
KMART
Kmart's own brand is ANKO, it stands for A New Kind Of. Kmart talk about their brand on their website but the advertising and product branding has little to no reference to Kmart other than some fine print stating imported for Kmart. Kmart stores have basically dropped all outside or non-Kmart branded products for their own ANKO branded products, around 80% of the store is ANKO products. This makes me wonder why call it ANKO? Why not just take ownership of your brand and call it Kmart or Kmart ANKO. So you think Kmart stops with just ANKO? Although Kmart seem to be moving completely to the ANKO brand, they have many more including Homemaker, Home & Co, Jackeroo, Fifth Avenue, Audiosonic, Gardener's Choice, Active & Co, Kids & Co, OXX and OXX Studio.
WOOLWORTHS
Woolworths and Coles have their logo's or name on most of their products, however unless you go looking, there are actually a number of other brands they own and you would never know.
Woolworths, who also own Countdown and Big W, generally have the W logo on most products such as Woolworths Essentials, Free From Gluten and Plantitude but also own Highgate dog food, Sam's Pantry, Thomas Dux, Farmers Own, Two Seeds coffee, Macro, Little Ones, Little Wishes, Voeu skin care, Apollo dog food, Baxter's dog food, Your Majesty cat food and Smitten cat food.
BIG W
Big W also have their own brands including Brilliant Basics, KID (or K-D), Blacksmith, House & Home and Perfect Pet. Surprisingly Big W do not seem to stock any of the Woolworths brands such as the pet foods or baby products which I think further highlights misleading advertising tactics.
COLES
Coles (part of the Wesfarmers Group, that's a whole other story) clearly place their name on many products such as Coles brand and Coles Finest. I give them credit for standing by their name, however they also have numerous unlinked products like Wellness Road, Wild Tides, Daley St coffee, I'm Perfect, Slow Hills, KOi, Woofin Good dog food, Graze meats, Elevate pet food, Cub baby products, Zena haircare products and iON laundry detergents.
MITRE 10
Mitre 10 also show their "own" brands on their website however, it takes a specific search to find it. Definitely not freely available and their products have little to no disclosure that they are in fact Mitre 10 products. These include Accent, Buy Right, Earthcore, Principle Kitchens and Rockwell.
BUNNINGS
Bunnings also have numerous products with no clearly displayed or advertised ownership of these products. These include Magnet, Jumbuck barbeques, Click lighting products, Trojan tools and equipment. Mimosa outdoor living furniture, Estilo plumbing fixtures, Syneco, Aqua Systems, Lotus Collection, Ikonic (Pinnacle Hardware), Painter's Mate, Paint Partner, Eiger, Bastion building materials, Saxon, Matador barbeques, Sommersault, All Set, Kinetic plumbing products, Riva Window Fashions, SpecRite timber products, Morgan Cleaning Products, Montgomery, Full Boar, Mondella plumbing fixtures, Topdry, Sunfresh, Duratile, Floor Select, Garden Basics, Marquee,
Trojan tools and equipment. This brand name is owned by Bunnings but it is manufactured specifically for Bunnings by the Ames Companies. Ames own Cyclone, Northcote Pottery, Nylex, Hills, Kelso, Tuscan Path, Supacraft and Westmix. Ames is a little different to these other large corporate companies as these brands are somewhat operated independently and sold through multiple retailers rather than direct to the public. A little like Coles as a company of the Wesfarmers Group.
It is more than likely that nearly all of these "own" brands and products are manufactured by other leading high quality companies specifically for these corporate companies (similar to the Trojan and Bunnings example), however it is also highly likely that these "own" brands and products are designed and manufactured to get the biggest "bang for the buck" by using lesser quality materials with cheaper manufacturing techniques.
It would be great to see someone draw a line on this deceptive behaviour and put a few more rules in place to clearly show customers a few extra details on "owned" products. I mean, if a company has designed and manufactured a product solely for sale within their own retail chain then it should clearly show the stores name on the product.
Let us know in the comments what you think.
Cheers
Keep it real, yep you know
"it's the truth"
17/10/2021
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