Issues With Generic Brands
Consumer perceptions about generic brands differ widely. While purchasing generic drugs, there may be a perceived risk of the effectiveness and safety of the drug.
A generic brand skin care product may also have a consumer unsure about its ‘health and safety’ quotient. This implies that there are certain product categories more aligned to generic brands. Examples include over the counter medications, cereal and gasoline among others.
Some generic products may try to leverage their already existing cost advantage (due to lack of promotional effort) further by using inferior ingredients for production. This can damage the reputation and lead to customers avoiding future purchase. Prevalence of such acts necessitates the customer crosschecking the crimp for list of ingredients and verifying that it is comparable to a name-brand.
Since customers may be unwilling to expend to extra effort required for price comparison or ingredient list matching, it is a good idea to buy generic brands for products with fewer ingredients. Eggs, fruits and vegetables are an easy choice.
Due to cultivation of a name brand mindset, customers might believe that a name branded product (say, cereal) tastes better than a generic one. In many cases, this may not be true. Misconceptions can be clarified by a blind test or by storing the product in clear glass containers.
Read more about this topic: Generic Brand
Famous quotes containing the words issues, generic and/or brands:
“I can never bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
““Mother” has always been a generic term synonymous with love, devotion, and sacrifice. There’s always been something mystical and reverent about them. They’re the Walter Cronkites of the human race . . . infallible, virtuous, without flaws and conceived without original sin, with no room for ambivalence.”
—Erma Bombeck (20th century)
“Mistakes, scandals, and failures no longer signal catastrophe. The crucial thing is that they be made credible, and that the public be made aware of the efforts being expended in that direction. The “marketing” immunity of governments is similar to that of the major brands of washing powder.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)