Do you have to have name brands?
 

When you go grocery shopping are you the type that has to have a named brand or will a store brand do just fine?

store brands are just fine....i won't be against trying a store brand of a specific product, but if it isn't as good as a name brand i will switch back to the name brand product. on some products you can't tell the difference.

if you don't try it once you'll never know....

I focus on quality so, brand or no brand, if something possesses HIGH QUALITY, I'd buy it.

I totally agree with you :thumbsup I go for the quality

for example..Heinz baked beans cost something like 40 pence a can...the store brand costs 9p..are the Heinz really that much better or are people just 'showing off' to a degree even if it is just showing off to themselves

That's what you call a "brand premium"--basically, they charge more because their marketing has created 'extra demand' for their brand. It used to be that branding was done to isolate the unique (and presumably better) quality of the product, however, it seems to have just degenerated into a grab for commanding 'brand premiums' :2 cents:

Also Heinz has a better sauce than say Tesco value.....

Some other brands though are as good as Heinz at less cost.

I buy any brand as long as it tastes good :thumbsup

Depends on the product.

Taste is first and foremost. My favorite diet drink is diet citrus drop (big k/kroger), favorite drink is coca cola (I have hated just about every one of coke's diet drinks). I could care less who makes the shit I drink or eat, as long as it tastes good it's ok with me.

I had my shopping list sorted out years ago, moved to the US and had to start over. The own-label manufacturers are different, some familiar products aren't available, unfamiliar brands are, and the price structure is completely different. For example, Kellogs cereals are a super-premium product in this area, ridiculous prices, so I dutifully tried store-label and other brands... and hated them. Now I wait for the periodic 2-for-1 promotions and stock up :)

I don't buy a lot of canned stuff, but those and cooking oils seem to be the easiest areas to save money without noticing any difference. Cold-pressed own-label olive oil is a real bargain and indistinguishable from all but the highest priced first-press branded oils. There are premium brands I stay away from such as Sara Lee (bread) and Starbucks: very ordinary products at inflated prices. You cannot buy any "real" cheese in supermarkets these days, so you may as well buy store brands.

The US alcohol market is the strangest for me. There are US-made wines which are a premium price here, but were not in the UK, and - to the extent taste can ever be objective - IMO the UK market positioning was a better reflection of their value. On the other hand, there is a lot of snobbery about imported hard liquors and the prices of some "regular" (in the UK/Europe) brands are ridiculous here.

Overall I don't end up with many own brands but with quite a lot of lesser-known brands. Mostly I save money by stocking up when a product I like is on special and over here, temporary price cuts are often much bigger than they were in the UK.

I ask btw not to be sno/anti-snob but just that I signed up for a course for the next term of my masters that apparently includes a section on 'consumer sociology' and it got me thinking about what sort of questions they will pose

Mix a pound of "driven-to-conform" with a tablespoon of "keeping-up-with-the-Joneses"...

yup, pretty much. After a undergraduate degree in sociology and part of a masters I am pretty sure I could write the essays already but I enjoy the debates.

A lot of the times you will find that name brands do produce the no name brand stuff. For example;

"Bolthouse Farms 100% Carrot Juice" is the same as (or falls under the same umbrella as);

"Earthbound Farm Organic Carrot Juice" which then produces;

"President's Choice Organics 100% Pure Carrot Juice"

You just have to luck out to know...I generally stick to what I know...most of the time I have brand stuff as that's the way it is, but as far as Olives and Pickles and some other condiments go, most times it non brand name.

The only problem I have with debates in these areas is that they tend to be a bit surreal...

Any communal creature is genetically programmed towards conformity and by definition the indians must vastly outnumber the chiefs. However humans base much in our society on the concept that we can all strive to achieve chief status and should attempt to do so. We claim to prize individuality yet it is not only largely an illusion, but even contrary to our nature.

It is the conscious perspective which provides the basis for many debates and you will rarely be thanked if you stand up and say, hang on a minute, we are not really like that...

kind of a mix of the two I guess... Sometimes you just want a name brand because you've had it all your life.

Like Kraft peanut butter.

Kraft peanut butter? That must be a Canadian thing:)

It is interesting because I have talked to other Americans that live in the UK and they have agreed that every now and then when you see an American product being introduced to the British supermarkets you feel like buying it even though you probably wouldn't if you were back home. So, there is some association of 'place' with a brand.

it depends on the specific product and where it will be used.

if im grilling a couple of $20 steaks i dont want to serve 4 for $1.00 canned corn with it. i got to have the green giant white shoepeg.

If there is something I like I tend to buy it when it is on sale and stock up. If there is a particular tomato sauce I like that is normally $4 and they run a 2 for $5 special I will buy 10 of them. I prefer Coke but if pepsi brands are on sale I will buy them. Some things you can't skimp on without losing quality though but a lot of times the store brand is simply a rebranded premium product bought in mass to cut costs.

it just depends on the product
I have to have Heinz ketchup and Hellman's mayonaisse.

It depends what it is. A lot of generic products are watered down versions of a name brand. I like the Malt O meal cereal in bags, store brand milk, butter etc. Soaps, sodas etc all tend to show their lack of quality.

Now, getting name brands on sale is my kind of shopping! :)

it depends