Context of Practice - Essay: Supermarkets are tricking shoppers into buying their brands

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2307538/Which-says-supermarkets-trick-shoppers-buying-brand-products-copying-household-names.html

An interesting article I came across on This Is Money. Supermarkets have been redesigning their own brand packaging to look similar to the main brands. Customers have bought the own brand products as a mistake thinking that they were the real deal. Using similar design allows the customer to fill in the gaps and link it to the official brand. The supermarkets are piggybacking on the well known brands using the trust and reliability that the brand have built up with consumers. This means that Tesco, for example, doesn't have to put in extra resources to create a trusted product.

I found it quite interesting how people complained that they had been misled or lied to, when actually they just haven't read the packaging. This really supports the argument that package design is key when it comes to sales. People only bought the product because it looked like head and shoulders etc... They don't read the information but rather look at the aesthetic as a whole and link certain design factors to the brand.

John Noble from Which?, said: ‘Our research shows that consumers are more likely to buy own-label products if they look like brands. This is another interesting point. Why do people buy non branded products that look like brands? Is it because the design is nicer, more thought through. People like to buy products which have a visually pleasing aspect. Or perhaps it is the stigma that comes with buying non brands, if a product is cheaper the design tends to be cheaper - it reflects the product. People connote a cheaper product with less money and if someone is buying a cheaper product it implies they may not be able to afford the 'better' brands. This is not to say this is true but perhaps would explain why people buy the cheaper mock brand - it looks more like a brand and removes this stigma that comes with buying value products. Alternatively they may just not pay attention to what they are buying and they just don't notice the difference.