Own brands: – Turn around: – They will not be imitators

How similar is too similar? Why is it okay for Tine and Q-dairies milk cartons to have the same shape and color, but not for Folkets ground beef to look like Gilde ground beef?

The debate began after the Nettavisen commentator Anders Norstad posted a photo of two packs of ground beefwhich looks confusingly similar on his blog’s Facebook page.

– I expect everyone to understand exactly why. So that you and I will make mistakes easier! he thornes in the post where he also states it NorgesGruppen is not ashamed.

According to Kjell S. Rakkenes, executive vice president of communications at Nortura, who, among other things, owns Gilde, they raised the issue with the client.

– We have a good dialogue with them and we feel that they understand that they are too similar to each other, he tells DinSide.

– We constantly have discussions of this kind with our customers, these are questions that arise from time to time with our products, both Prior and Gilde, and it is clear that we take care of our brands and try to defend them.

– I think this is a bit of a category standard, Bård Gultvedt, director of corporate policy and government relations at NorgesGruppen, told DinSide on Monday.

He also questioned whether the criticism comes only after the design has strayed further from Gilde’s packets of minced meat. Now they are turning:

– We have an attitude that we shouldn’t appear as imitators and we want there to be a clearer difference on the labels, he tells DinSide.

He pointed out that they are working to further adapt the design so that the differences become even more evident.

– We don’t want anyone to think they’re too similar, so we’re going to change the look of our label, says Gultvedt.

In Nortura this is welcomed with joy and relief.

– So good. We are very happy with this! Rakkenes tells DinSide. – We have had a good dialogue with them in this process, so it was very good to hear that.

Rakkenes, on the other hand, points out that it is very important for them that their products are easily recognizable, as Gilde and Prior are the only two brands that guarantee Norwegian eggs and meat.

– This is the main difference between our two brands and other products in the category, we have imposed the restriction that in our products we will only have raw materials from Norwegian farmers.

Can Guilds Be Expelled?

Bård Gultvedt tells Nettavisen that this it is not an attempt to take over the meat market by Gilde, which also confirms to DinSide.

Apparently the store shelves may show the opposite. Both of our random samples this week, but also several years of experience buying meat to test everything from mutton to spare ribs and pork chops, show that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find Gilde products at meat counter, here it is now the brands owned by the various chains that dominate.

– We still have a large number of Gilde brands in our stores, says Gultvedt.

Rakkenes confirms this:

– Over the past year, Gilde has slightly increased the market share of minced meat in NorgesGruppen stores. We are very happy with this and hope the trend continues so that consumers find our products, he tells DinSide.

He acknowledges, however, that it may be harder to find Gilde in stores now than, say, ten years ago.

– We see that our brands are winning on store shelves and gaining market share. This is the explanation why you rarely see our products on the shelves. We would like the situation to be different, but we have to deal with what customers order and buy from us, she says.

How problematic is it?

The debate is not new.

The fear is that the cheaper products, produced abroad, exclude the original brands, as happened, for example, then Orkla demolished the Denja brand it’s a couple of years ago.

The debate on brands and own brands is perhaps particularly relevant in times when the rise in food prices is rampant and more and more people are becoming price conscious. Where Idun or Heinz ketchup used to be, today it is more natural to choose Xtra, Prima or First Price.

– We must get rid of the “cheap copies” brand, own brands are much more! says Erland Skogli, partner of Menon Economics.

Skogli has drafted a report on its brands in the food sector on behalf of Virke food.

Virke dælgurlvare is NHO’s organization for the food industry and represents grocery stores, but Menon has regular assignments for other parts of the industry as well, both suppliers and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

– The picture of how this turns out to us end consumers, where First Price is seen as a copy, is more nuanced than what you get here, he tells DinSide.

– The question is how important this part of the problem is, he tells DinSide.

At the forefront of product innovation

Someone who has previously been very critical of EMV / UMV copies of stores is Center Party’s Geir Pollestad.

– Myself fear of diversity in stores if chains take the lead in making copies of well-known brands in the industry, Pollestad has already told Dagbladet.

According to Skogli, research is not on Pollestad’s side, quite the contrary.

– We looked at a lot of international research: A lot of research indicates that EMV was important for product innovation in the later stages of grocery stores.

It refers to the premium segment within own brands, such as Jacobs Utvalgte and Smak, which contribute to innovation on store shelves. This is also the segment that has grown the most, in addition to the product groups with more environmentally and climate-friendly products. For example, Coops Änglamark, a Swedish brand, is a leader in the organic food sector.

– This is one of the reasons why the Antitrust Authority is not entirely negative, own brands contribute to increasing competition.