Walmart: store brand vs. name brand pricing
 

A while back there was a thread where people were discussing how Walmart sells many of their store brand foods for higher prices than the equivalent name brand. I searched and can't find that thread.

I spotted a good one yesterday: Bird's Eye Voila was $3.98 a bag.

Right next to it was Walmart's store brand version of Voila, same size bags: $4.98! An entire dollar higher!

Usually the difference between name brand and Walmart brand is pennies, maybe up to a quarter or so higher for the Walmart brand.

I assume the reason the store brand sells is because people aren't paying attention. They just grab the store brand because they *think* it's cheaper.

A few times when I've seen people getting the store brand, I've pointed out to them that the store brand equivalent next to that product is cheaper. They are ALWAYS surprised by that.

Yep and if you check you will often find the smaller jar/can/bottle is less per ounce than the bigger one.

I hate to ask but whats voila? I know with the appropriate accent its the French word "voilà", but guessing thats not what Birdseye and Wallywart are selling....

I do very little grocery shopping at WalMart so can't comment on store brand vs. brand name food items. I do buy nearly all of my OTC medications at WalMart and their store brand for everything I buy is definitely much less that the equivalent in the brand name. Allergy medication is just one ... Benadryl (under the brand name) is over $8 a bottle while the WalMart brand for the same medication is under $5 ... identical formula, same number of pills.

Looks like its a skillet dinner from what I googled.

You might want to check the dollar stores for your OTC meds. I have found Dollar General has much lower prices on allergy meds than wally world.

You just have to be really careful. I keep a calculator in my purse and DH uses the one on his phone. For example, WalMart heavily advertises their $4 medications so that people will use their pharmacies for all their medications. Shnuck's doesn't charge anything at all for certain antiobotics. While our small town pharmacy doesn't give away antibiotics (but we'd never ask him) he does match Walmart's $4 pricing. He says that the medications on the $4 list cost next to nothing. We get our $4 meds and keep our great small town customer service.

Dollar General rules for OTC but watch the Rexall brand they now carry. Kroger has a larger $4 & $10 prescription list than WM and you get points for gasoline.

Strange...the store brand is MUCH cheaper at our WM than name brand on every item I've seen.

Perhaps their managers have some leeway with regards to pricing?

Ladycat, I've seen this happening here, too. Not on everything, but on enough things that it makes you go :umno:!!!

Their ad match guarantee, in my opinion, is just a gimmick. They either won't match this or that, or it has to be a printed ad not a sale listed from an email. They also won't match everyday prices such as cold drinks or the Sunday (coupons) newspaper from the Dollar Tree.

Ive seen it too, the walmart brand being higher than a brand name. And the smaller containers being less per pound than bigger ones. People think bigger = cheaper per pound and it doesnt mean that all the time

That doesn't seem to be the case around here. Store brands are almost always significantly less expensive. I generally don't shop for groceries at WM because WM has higher prices on groceries in general compared to some of the other stores that have good sales and promotions. But, yeah, when I was there a couple months ago store brands were still much cheaper.

i try to pay attention, but i will step it up a notch.

i know that campbells cream of xxx soups were on a good sale around christmas, way cheaper than the great value price. i was in there stocking up again, and told a girl who was getting a few cans of walmart brand that the name brand was actually cheaper that week. she looked at me like i had grown two extra heads. but she did get the cambells.

If you are careful and look for Wal-Mart's $0.88 aisle, you can find the "super generic" benedryl and other essential "meds" for $0.88 a box at Wal-Mart.

I buy some stuff in that aisle that just isn't cheaper with price match and coupons.

Our local store is pretty great about price match, I always bring in printed downloaded ads from other stores, (they don't even check where from!) and I haven't had problem one.

Same here. The store brand is much cheaper than the name brand in most cases. We pay very close attention to prices, and price per ounce, so it's not that we aren't paying attention. Store brand truly is cheaper here.

One should shop with a calculator. I have been known to go to the business supply isle and use one. I really need to make a list and put it in a note book to take shopping. I would organize it in columns and date. I have seen a shopper with such. I think it was more a collection of coupons though. Not a bad idea either.

I buy most all of our OTC allergy/sinus or cold medicine at the dollar store. They work great & you can't beat the price. BUT I also try to never shop at Wal-Mart for anything if I don't have to.

I've never seen an 88 cent aisle in Walmarts around here. Maybe I am not looking hard enough?

Not at all surprised they are doing this. When they changed all their packaging to the plain white with black lettering I knew they were up to something. It LOOKS like it would be cheaper when in fact it may not be. Sneaky... very sneaky. Take your calculator.

another good example is sugar. Domino Sugar in Baltimore,Maryland packages sugar for a lot of supermarket chains along with their own brand. same sugar same location so why the big price difference? it is called you are paying for the name NOT the sugar.
i saw this first hand when i picked up a load of sugar for W-M.

Might be different there but I can tell you the wife has a spread sheet showing how much each med cost per pill for each store (Wal Mart, Dollar General, Fred's, Family Dollar, etc). We buy antihistamines and coal tar shampoo at DG, decongestants and some analgesics at Family Dollar and other stuff at Fred's. When ever we go into either store she checks prices and updates her info.