Who decides which snacks are in your office’s vending machine? How much is a suburban elm tree worth, and to whom? How did Girl Scout Cookies become a billion-dollar business? In bite-sized episodes, journalist Zachary Crockett looks at quotidian things and finds amazing stories. Join the Freakonomics Radio Plus membership program for weekly member-only episodes of Freakonomics Radio. You’ll also get every show in our network without ads. To sign up, visit our show page on Apple Podcasts or go to freakonomics.com/plus.
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episode 34: 34. Store-Brand Products
Those low-priced staples on grocery-store shelves — where do they come from? Zachary Crockett finds out at a national convention for private-label manufacturers.
- SOURCES:
- Kusum Ailawadi, professor of marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
- Eric Beringause, C.E.O. of Winland Foods.
- Ryan Boyle, vice president of sales at Kitchen Innovations.
- Samantha Burd, co-owner of Lady Burd Cosmetics.
- Dean Erstad, senior vice president of sales at Seneca.
- Harry Overly, president and C.E.O. of Flagstone Foods.
- RESOURCES:
- "The Backlash to Price Hikes Is Building," by Julia Waldow (Modern Retail, 2024).
- "For U.S. Consumers, It’s a Matter of ‘And’ — Not ‘Or,'" by Kari Alldredge and Warren Teichner (McKinsey & Company, 2023).
- "Those Doritos Too Expensive? More Stores Offer Their Own Alternatives," by Julie Creswell (The New York Times, 2023).
- "Why Private Label Brands Are Having Their Moment," by Errol Schweizer (Forbes, 2022).
- "The Hidden Makers of Costco’s Kirkland Signature and Trader Joe’s O’s," by Nathaniel Meyersohn (CNN Business, 2022).
- "Pursuing the Value-Conscious Consumer: Store Brands versus National Brand Promotions," by Kusum Ailawadi, Scott A. Neslin, and Karen Gedenk (Journal of Marketing, 2001).
- "The Effect of Generic Products on Consumer Perceptions and Brand Choice," by John J. Wheatley (NA - Advances in Consumer Research, 1981).
- EXTRAS:
- "Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s?" by Freakonomics Radio (2018).
- "How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying," by Freakonomics Radio (2014).