Franz Wunderlich produces mustard in a suburb of Regensburg. His company is called Luise Händlmaier, and the mustard brand is known throughout Germany. But just a few fields away there is another mustard manufacturer. However, there is no factory there, just a large single-family house – and a stone wall with a golden mailbox: Haberland Marketing GmbH. In the Aldi supermarket, you can find the address on the packaging of the mustard from the own brand “Delikato”. Both companies, Händlmaier and Haberland Marketing, list Franz Wunderlich as the managing director. The nutritional tables for the two mustards are also identical. There is only one difference: the branded product costs 25 cents more per 100 grams. Is the cheap mustard the same?
This text comes from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Händlmaier himself does not provide any information on this. However, many private labels are made by well-known manufacturers. The composition of the products in the private labels is often slightly different, but this is usually barely noticeable for consumers, says Patrick Sieber. The quality of the private label products is also at least as good in many cases. He founded the company Markendetektive with his wife Manon. In the app of the same name, consumers can, among other things, scan the barcode of branded and private label products to find out whether there are identical or at least comparable variants.
The identity code provides information
Of course, food producers want to prevent consumers from realizing this – and choosing the cheaper option. “The brand manufacturers have come up with methods to conceal the doppelgangers in the shops,” says Patrick Sieber. The couple regularly travels to different supermarket chains to track down other product twins.
The FAS also looks around in stores, for example at the refrigerated section of an Edeka supermarket in Bavaria. Here, consumers can find out relatively easily whether they are putting a twin product in their shopping cart, says Manon Sieber. For example, with fish, meat and dairy products, the identification mark on the back shows where the product was last processed or packaged. The rule is: same number, same manufacturer.
Brands vs. own brands: the difference in milk
In the Edeka supermarket, for example, it is noticeable that the Freiburg “Black Forest Milk” comes from the same factory as the “Gut & Günstig” full-cream milk. The branded product is 86 cents more expensive than the own brand. The rice pudding manufacturer Müller also produces its own brands – for Aldi Süd, Rewe and Lidl, among others. That is at least what the product codes suggest. According to the brand detectives’ assessment, the Karwendel factory in Buchloe, Bavaria, not only produces the “Exquisa” cream cheese, but also home products for Netto, Kaufland and Rewe.
This code, the so-called identity and health mark, has been compulsory in the EU since 2004. It starts with the country code, such as “DE” for Germany, then the federal state abbreviation and a registration number for the company and the abbreviation “EG”. If you search for the mark on the Internet, you will find further information, such as the company name and location. However, the code cannot be found for loose goods, such as meat. Therefore, there is nothing for Manon and Patrick Sieber to find out at the fresh produce counter.
Compare nutritional tables and ingredient lists
Away from the refrigerated counter, it becomes more difficult to detect twin products, says Patrick Sieber. He advises consumers to compare the nutritional tables and ingredient lists. If these are identical, this is another indication that the same manufacturer is behind them.
However, this can sometimes be a coincidence, so it is important to check whether there is a connection between the manufacturing companies, he says. For example, the detectives found out that the “Henglein” egg noodles have the same nutritional information as the noodles from the supermarket chains Rewe, Penny and Norma. The salami pizza from Kaufland and Rewe is also identical to the Alberto brand product in terms of nutritional values.
Often the company addresses are the same
If there is still uncertainty, the experts recommend comparing the printed company addresses to identify identical production sites. This can help with Aldi and Kaufland, for example. But it is of no use with Edeka, where the same address of an umbrella company is printed for all of its own brands. “This is not because Edeka is the most concerned about concealing the origin,” says Nicole Merbach, nutrition expert at Stiftung Warentest. It is simply easier to print just one address. This way, different packaging is not needed. The milk comes from different dairies depending on the region.
Edeka is the only major supermarket chain to state in writing that its own-brand products are never identical to branded products. The other supermarkets remain tight-lipped on the issue and sometimes refer to “trade secrets”.
If only a PO box is given as the address on the product, a look at the commercial register or the Federal Gazette can also be informative. Consumers can find the full address there. Brand detective Stefan Duphorn uses this and the previous methods. On the Internet, Duphorn has been managing a no-name list on the “wer-zu-wem” website since 2003, which helps consumers.
High loyalty to branded products
According to a trend study by the online marketing circle, around 60 percent of customers in the supermarket buy branded products. “Many want to put a brand on the table when guests come,” says Andreas Ebeling, managing partner of Brandmeyer Markenberatung.
But it’s not just about the representative function. “Customers buy branded products because they have a personal connection,” explains the brand expert. The brand gives trust and security. “And you don’t have to think long about what to buy because sometimes your grandmother had this product too.” If there is no personal connection and the representative element, the cheap product twins have an easy time. According to the market research company Ipsos, almost three quarters of consumers choose the supermarkets’ own brands when it comes to toilet paper.
Markets earn more with private labels
Although branded products are more expensive, supermarkets earn less from them than from own brands. According to the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Center, this is because the margins for manufacturers are often higher. This is why more and more supermarkets are becoming their own producers. Even Aldi Nord, which for a long time did not operate its own production facilities, has changed its strategy. The discounter has been bottling its own mineral water for two years.
Lidl and Kaufland already sell dried fruit, baked goods, pasta, coffee and ice cream produced in-house in their own-brand range. If things continue like this, there may be no need for detective work in the supermarket at some point – the time of twin products would be over if retailers mainly operated with their own brands.
