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Amazon To Sell Its Own Private-Label Groceries (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon will soon roll-out its own private-label brands of common household items like coffee, diapers, and other perishable groceries. Such offerings include baby food, tea, coffee, spices, and even laundry detergent, and will live under the brand names Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime, and Mama Bear. The products are expected to go on sale as soon as this month, available exclusively for Amazon Prime members. The idea to sell private-label products is nothing new for Amazon. It's been selling consumer electronics devices under its Amazon Basics line for quite some time now. They launched several in-house clothing brands earlier this year as well. In 2014, the company had to recall its Element brand diapers due to a design flaw. With a wider array of private-label goods, especially edible goods, the stakes are only higher, as one recall could severely hurt the company's reputation.

64 comments

  1. Misuse of the word "other" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Diapers are neither perishable nor groceries.

    1. Re:Misuse of the word "other" by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      Neither is laundry detergent.

  2. Bezos is so Republican by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, he wants to control every part of our lives. He should have stuck to controlling what we read.

    1. Re: Bezos is so Republican by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He still controls what we read.

    2. Re: Bezos is so Republican by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He still controls what we read.

      He who controls what one reads, also controls what one doesn't read, which is perhaps more frightening.

    3. Re: Bezos is so Republican by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      I've bypassed the problem completely by not reading anymore!

  3. Most everybody else does it by reboot246 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All the grocery stores around here have their own store brands, so it's kinda normal for Amazon to do the same. We know that Amazon won't actually be producing the items themselves; they're just re-branding stuff made by somebody else.

    I will still compare prices and read reviews before I buy.

    1. Re:Most everybody else does it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When it comes to generics, reviews are pretty useless as the underlying supplier often changes.

    2. Re:Most everybody else does it by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      When it comes to generics, reviews are pretty useless as the underlying supplier often changes.

      Yes, but they pretty much have the exact same formulations as the brands whose packaging they imitate.

      Also: relevant to this discussion...

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re:Most everybody else does it by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

      Also: relevant to this discussion...

      Back in the 1970's, this sort of thing started to show up in stores.

      But also, look up "White Label" products...

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    4. Re:Most everybody else does it by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 2

      Amazon monitors which are the most profitable products from third party sellers, then uses that info to decide which areas to come out with their own store brand products in. There are going to be a lot of unhappy household item sellers after this announcement, but competition marches on and it'll make them less expensive for consumers.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    5. Re: Most everybody else does it by thegameiam · · Score: 1

      I remember having stuff like that in the late 80s and early 90s in Utah. I suspect that manufacturers eventually realized they could make more appealing packaging for a small amount of money and dramatically increase sales.

      --
      Need Geek Rock? Try The Franchise!
    6. Re:Most everybody else does it by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      In Québec our "white label" products are actually "yellow label", called "no name" ("sans nom" in french).

      Not sure if they're available in the rest of Canada.

      As as with any generic products, some of them are excellent and better than known brands, some of them are just okay and some of them you just need to stay away from.

    7. Re:Most everybody else does it by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      In Québec our "white label" products are actually "yellow label", called "no name" ("sans nom" in french).

      Not sure if they're available in the rest of Canada.

      As as with any generic products, some of them are excellent and better than known brands, some of them are just okay and some of them you just need to stay away from.

      In the rest of Canada, "No Name" is actually the store brand of the Real Canadian Superstore. I see it all the time, only in Superstore.

      All the other stores have it as well - Walmart has Great Value, Safeway has Compliments, etc.

      Store brand/white label/generic goods have been around a long time and practically everything pre-packaged has a store brand version. They're always cheaper, and depending on the item can often be superior to the name brand. And a lot of them actually ARE name brand products - they're made in the same factories, the only difference is the packaging (Safeway batteries were Duracell, for example). Of course, no company will reveal this information, but it can be gleaned by things like recalls and such.

    8. Re:Most everybody else does it by Kagato · · Score: 1

      The large grocery chains have quite a lot of R&D into the white label products they sell. They have test kitchen's and conduct focus groups. I think Target and Trader Joes in particular have set the expectations bar fairly high in terms of what a white label brand should deliver. In many cases they offer products and flavors that are new. They don't just replicate an existing brand like some generic.

    9. Re:Most everybody else does it by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      You're right, I think "no name" is a Maxi/etc brand.

      You can also guess which brand name products they are by looking at the ingredients and the nutritional label.

    10. Re:Most everybody else does it by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      As as with any generic products, some of them are excellent and better than known brands, some of them are just okay and some of them you just need to stay away from.

      Yep - although as time goes on I've noticed a general upwards trend in quality of the generic versions. Most of the big name brand products are old and established. The knock-offs have had decades now to keep tweaking their recipes.

      And as you said - sometimes it's better. The best canned peaches I've found are actually the Dollar General store brand ones. BI-LO's "Southern Home" branded canned tuna is better than ANY of the name brands, and the Walmart version of the "Sweet and Salty Almond Granola" tastes better than Nature Valley. On the other hand if I'm frying stuff I've never found a generic breading/batter mix quite as good as House Autry :).

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    11. Re:Most everybody else does it by Dusthead+Jr. · · Score: 1

      Those look like the generics we used to buy at Kroger's in the early 80's with the same lowercase hevatica fonts. Only difference is that some random letters were capital for some reason.

    12. Re:Most everybody else does it by lsatenstein · · Score: 1

      The Amazon venture is going to hurt Costco. Costco had better eliminate their membership fee, of they will feel the flee

      --
      Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
  4. Diapers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You should use cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers. All disposable diapers are made of synthetics and plastics and we need to reduce adding these materials to our landfills.

    1. Re:Diapers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      How about you just eat shit instead?

    2. Re:Diapers by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      That's not even necessary. You can adopt a helper (often off death row) from the pound who will clean the solids from the diaper with alacrity. Win. Ewww! Win.

      The trash in the dump may well be mined by a future alpha life form, since we're likely to use up the easy to get stuff before we die off.

      If not, the earth is probably evolving an organism in nature that can metabolize plastics and other synthetics.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    3. Re: Diapers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should read up on the environmental impact of cloth diaper cleaning.

    4. Re: Diapers by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      I predict future diapers made of PLA.

    5. Re:Diapers by The+Grassy+Knoll · · Score: 1

      You should use cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers.

      Yeah, lots of new parents have that aim, until reality hits... Plus disposable diapers cause far less nappy rash...

      --
      They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight
    6. Re:Diapers by jshackney · · Score: 1
  5. Oh, boy by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    "Diaper" and "design flaw" are two things you don't want to ever see linked together in one sentence.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Oh, boy by rsborg · · Score: 1

      "Diaper" and "design flaw" are two things you don't want to ever see linked together in one sentence.

      It happens. And everything is very individual so sometimes a design flaw isn't acutually a big deal, say, if your baby/toddler doesn't push the envelope (in output, or behavior).

      Just glad I don't have to deal with this anymore - got lucky with my smallest who trained out in 18m.

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    2. Re:Oh, boy by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      My boys are 9 and 12. There are times when I wish they were little babies again so I could cuddle them like I used to. Then, I remember diaper changes (like our infamous Seven Diaper Diaper Change - when one boy filled up seven diapers one after another as soon as we could get them on him) and I'm glad they're older. They don't like the cuddle as much (especially not our preteen), but at least they use the bathroom by themselves now!

      That and there are so many more geeky activities I can do with them now.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re:Oh, boy by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 1

      Geeky activities with diapers?

    4. Re:Oh, boy by Salgak1 · · Score: 1

      Geeky activities with diapers?

      Certainly you've heard of the Raspberry Poo. . . .

  6. With Wash. Post acquisition by rsborg · · Score: 1

    He also controls what you think you read, too...

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    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    1. Re:With Wash. Post acquisition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He also controls what you think you read, too...

      That was in 2013. It isn't news just because Trump talks about it. Oh, wait, I guess it is. Anyway, I don't know anyone who reads The Post any more.

  7. Let me guess by mangamuscle · · Score: 1

    As soon as they substitute all the employees at their warehouses we will introduce a limited time only Soylent Green brand.

    1. Re:Let me guess by tehlinux · · Score: 1

      A modest proposal.

      --
      Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
    2. Re:Let me guess by Salgak1 · · Score: 1

      Nah: "Amazon Gourmet Long Pig". . .

  8. Happy Belly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sound like a great brand for condoms

    1. Re: Happy Belly by Swave+An+deBwoner · · Score: 1

      With a slight design flaw.

  9. Happy with my Amazon Basics by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

    I've been ordering Amazon Basics products for a while and been happy with all of them. Basic stuff from AA batteries to USB cords through baby wipes.

    They're usually cheaper than the name brand stuff and by time you factor in the fact that they're delivered to my door they're much cheaper when it comes to my time.

    Walmart can shove their "but we have the absolute lowest price" in my face all they want, but the convenience of not having to drive to walmart. Fight with the self checkout lane. Load my car and drive it home Amazon comes out cheaper. If any companies want to take them on fight them at their own game.

    1. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by Mitreya · · Score: 2

      Fight with the self checkout lane.

      That. So much that.
      How much money do they really save on removing a few cashiers? I won't go to CVS anymore, because it is always an obnoxious experience.

    2. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I seek out stores with self checkout. Who wants to stand in a line of people who realize after everything is totaled that they need to pull out their checkbook and start writing a check.

    3. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by Iamthecheese · · Score: 1

      My Amazon Basics mouse went to shit in three months.

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    4. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Good news! I've heard Amazon will soon be selling diapers! ... not sure they'll have mouse-sized ones though.

    5. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you are really saying is that you are lazy.

    6. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      I seek out stores with self checkout. Who wants to stand in a line of people who realize after everything is totaled that they need to pull out their checkbook and start writing a check.

      If I'm only buying a handful of items, I prefer self-checkout too. It's really only when I have a cartful of stuff that a cashier is necessary. Self-checkout is like having multiple "10 items or less" lanes open.

      Alternatively, you could adopt systems that make checkout more efficient. Take Aldi. They are known for having super-efficient cashiers: they often put multiple scanning codes on labels so the items can scan faster, and they place items directly in a cart (without bagging -- you do this yourself). It's shocking how fast they can check you out if you haven't seen this before -- it's almost like a "waterfall" of items gliding past the scanner. There are plenty of times I have half a cartful of goods, and I barely have time to move my cart down and get out my wallet before the cashier is done with the check-out. (Aldi generally pays its employees reasonably well and thus tends to have long-term employees who get more efficient at this, rather than the typical supermarket with a bunch of clueless teenagers running things.)

      Anyhow, because they are so efficient, they often only have one cashier on duty.

      A few times I have been there, and you have a person who simply doesn't understand how to behave like a rational shopper at check-out. A little while back, I remember this woman with half a cart-load of items who didn't put anything on the conveyor belt. She waited until it was her turn, and then handed items one at a time directly to the cashier... often taking a moment to think between picking up each item. Then -- of course -- when it came time to pay the bill, out came the change purse and the pennies.

      Aldi has a second employee around who will eventually come and open a second lane when it starts backing up, but all it takes is one ridiculous person, and the whole system backs up. (I think at least 15 people checked out during the time it took for this one person -- I was unlucky enough to have been right behind her and already had my stuff on the conveyor before I realized what this was going to be like.)

      Now -- I'm not arguing that Aldi should necessarily have self-checkout, since their cashiers are so efficient most of the time. But good customer service says there should be a "bypass" in the event that you get a few of these people holding up the lines.

      Self-checkout is often an easy way to do that. I don't have a problem with it as long as they also have enough cashiers on duty to deal with people who don't want to or can't do self-checkout easily.

    7. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I've been using mine with no problems for well over a year. As with most things, YMMV.

    8. Re:Happy with my Amazon Basics by avatar+avatar · · Score: 1

      Until my local Wal-Mart starts handing out Zoloft at the door to combat the rush of depression that accompanies being at Wal-Mart, I can live with paying Amazon a marginal cost increase.

  10. Not into the "groceries online" deal by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    I want to pick my fruits/veggies/meat. Other than that I'm ok with it. Face it, Hunts tomato sauce is the same everywhere you go.

    That said, fruits/veggies/meat are over 50% of my weekly food budget. Grocery shopping is maybe 20 minutes out of a 90 minute loop I do once a week, so I'm not saving much time going online.

    Know what would help? 10 minute delivery. Put a pot roast on the crockpot this morning, found out I was out of tomato paste. Dafuk, I'm never out of tomato paste. So I skipped it. Would have been better with it, but I figured by the time I got home adding tomato paste would be a waste.

    1. Re:Not into the "groceries online" deal by sexconker · · Score: 1

      You should've just added some vinegar instead.

    2. Re:Not into the "groceries online" deal by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      We've used Amazon for some staples. Running low on toilet paper during the winter and don't want to brave the snow/ice to go to the store? Order a large package from Amazon. Two days later it arrives and we'll be set for weeks.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re:Not into the "groceries online" deal by justthinkit · · Score: 1

      Just keep an extra xx-roll bag or two on hand. It helps to have the square footage to do this, but it avoids the need for 'crisis' shopping altogether. Do the same for paper towels, laundry detergent, long-shelf-life soy milk and a few canned goods.

      BTW, grandparent's comment about "fruit/veg/meat all I care about" forgets things like coffee. Are you really going to buy Amazon-brand coffee?

      --
      I come here for the love
    4. Re:Not into the "groceries online" deal by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      We usually go to BJ's to get giant bags of toilet paper (as well as paper towels and other bulk supplies), but sometimes we can't get out there (for various reasons) and we find that we're running low. We could go to a closer grocery store and buy a small package to tide us over (paying more per roll in the process) or we could buy from Amazon and have it shipped right to our door in two days. Amazon isn't our only option and might not be the one we use all the time, but it's definitely a good option to have available and one we take advantage of from time to time.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  11. missing out on obvious branding by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

    they should make clothing for very tall women.

    they could call it...

    [wait for it]

    "amazon woman!"

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    1. Re:missing out on obvious branding by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      If they do this they can call their lingerie line: "Amazon Women In The Mood".

      I even have the perfect catch phrase for the lingerie models to say. "Me want snu-snu!"

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:missing out on obvious branding by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
      Futurama, season 3, episode 1.

  12. I wont see thing working well. by blanks · · Score: 1

    I live in Seattle where we get access to Amazon Fresh, the Amazon grocery delivery service and would it would be my guess they will be testing our their own product lines out here first. And I will be surprised if Amazon food products will sell at all. I've lived with maybe a dozen people and known a bunch of other people who have used this service. And the bulk of the stuff people buy are stuff they know, namely products by their brand names, because that's what they know they like, and what to search for. People who are not worried about price (Amazon Fresh rarely has stuff on sale, doesn't have coupons, and no card/point system) are not going to buy low quality products that will not be much cheaper then brand name items. Amazon Fresh is always much more expensive then local chains in general, so if you're buying from Fresh, you're not going to buy off brand chicken (oh it's $.50 cheaper then brand name, but $1.50 more in your local chain).

    --
    I deleted my sig years ago.
  13. Y'all remember what they called it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when Ford started buying up all the oil wells?

    1. Re:Y'all remember what they called it by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Planning for the future?

  14. Store brands are a proven profit center by RubberDogBone · · Score: 1

    Store brands work very well for Aldi and Costco and Kroger, where each of those stores makes a huge amount of their profit off their own brands, which allows them to keep the prices lower on the name brands.

    Suppliers like Ralston, Richelieu Foods, Dean, Glister-Mary Lee, Cott, Sun Brands, Red Gold, and many others have decades of experience making store brands. For example, Glister-Mary Lee makes Betty Crocker cake mixes under contract for General Mills, and also makes store brands. They make name-brand microwave popcorn and also many store brands. So they know what they are doing, and they're hardly the only ones.

    Sun Brands makes a huge range of name brand detergents like All, Wisk, Sun, and store brands for Walgreens, Costco, Aldi, Safeway and others. They've been nipping at Procter & Gamble for years and won awards while never grabbing a spotlight. They know how to make great store brands like Kirkland for Costco, and utter dreck store brands like Tendil for Aldi. So Amazon's success depends on what kind of product they choose to source. People tend to be very loyal to their laundry detergents.

    --
    Sig for hire.
  15. Can't wait by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Dharma Initiative Coffee, Dharma Initiative Beer, ...

    Namasté

  16. Basics good, getting tired of chinese knock-offs by swb · · Score: 1

    Basics products are pretty good, especially USB cables and dog poop bags.

    But what I'm getting tired of are the 47 sellers selling the same Chinese knock-off products to the point where it's hard to tell the products apart. And so many are flooded with bogus reviews, and I'd swear there are a handful of fake negative reviews to make it seem believable.

    I recently bought a set of knockoff Anderson Powerpole high current connectors for a battery project and they sucked. Positive pins didn't lock up and while I was using it with #4 welding cable it was obvious the terminals wouldn't accept #2 wire as advertised. I ended up returning them, but of course not before crimping in all my custom length #4 cable.

    Fortunately Amazon makes returns trivial and I ended up tracking down a non-Amazon site that sells the actual Anderson PowerPole connectors, ironically for the same money before shipping, but because what I bought was low quality Chinese knock-offs, I've lost a week and a half on this project due to parts.

  17. not a recall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to the linked article, they didn't recall the diapers, the simply stopped selling them... pretty big difference.

  18. Amazon bad management. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    It's as though Amazon is saying this: "You are not allowed to know who produces the things you buy. We can change suppliers at any time, without telling you."

  19. Amazon: Why pay more? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Amazon Fresh is always much more expensive then local chains in general..."