private label

Two brands of aspirin. Left: a national brand made by Bayer. Right: a private-label brand. Note the price difference and similar boxes. A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company that directly sells the product, but outsources the manufacturing to a third party. That is, one company makes a product for another company which then offers the product under its brand name. Among the best-known private-label brands are store brands, brands owned by and sold exclusively at a particular retailer, such as a supermarket or grocery store chain. Examples are Simple Truth by Kroger and Great Value by Walmart. Store brands compete with national brands. Manufacturers of private-label goods are usually anonymous, sometimes by contract. In other cases, they are allowed to mention their role publicly.

A private-label product is similar to but distinct from a white-label one. A private-label product is made by a manufacturer exclusively for one client, who sets the product specifications, while for a white-label product, the manufacturer determines specifications and may make exactly the same thing for multiple clients, with each client selling the product under its own brand.