Generic brand

Generic brands of consumer products (often supermarket goods) are distinguished by the absence of a brand name. It is often inaccurate to describe these products as "lacking a brand name", as they usually are branded, albeit with either the brand of the store in which they are sold or a lesser-known brand name which may not be aggressively advertised to the public. They are identified more by product characteristics.
They may be manufactured by less prominent companies, or manufactured on the same production line as a 'named' brand. Generic brands are usually priced below those products sold by supermarkets under their own brand (frequently referred to as "store brands" or "own brands"). Generally they imitate these more expensive brands, competing on price. Generic brand products are often of equal quality as a branded product; however, the quality may change suddenly in either direction with no change in the packaging if the supplier for the product changes.

Rather than offering a single own-brand alternative, supermarkets have in recent years introduced 'premium' and 'value' ranges offering varying quality and price. Some supermarkets advertise the quality of their premium own-brands for example Sainsbury's television commercial featuring celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. Value supermarket brands are sold at considerably less than known brands, sometimes even below cost price, to entice the shopper into the store. Despite perceived lower quality, supermarket own-brands continue to sell and a trading standards investigation found that there was little nutritional or taste difference between value and regular products.


When patent protection expires on a drug, a bioequivalent version may be sold as a "generic" version of the brand name drug, typically at a significant discount below the brand name. The utility of these products is considered to be the same as that of the original brand name.