I’m interested in learning about brands that might use other manufacturers to produce their products instead of making everything themselves. It’s often the case that some companies label products made by others as their own.
Can you share any insights on which businesses you believe are doing this? Have you seen brands offering remarkably similar products or perhaps the same product sold under various brand names?
I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this matter, including any specific examples you’ve noticed.
Nobody talks about the massive supply chain mess this creates. I’ve watched companies manually track dozens of private label suppliers, lose inventory, and get screwed by quality problems.
The worst part? Managing multiple brands that source from the same manufacturers. One company I worked with had three brands all using the same phone accessory factory - zero visibility into their shared supply chain.
Costco’s Kirkland batteries come from Duracell, but Costco probably doesn’t get real-time production data or quality metrics. Same deal with Amazon sellers dropshipping identical stuff.
Smart move: automate your entire private label operation. Set up workflows that monitor suppliers, track inventory across brands, sync pricing, and catch when competitors use your manufacturer.
I built this for a client sourcing electronics from the same factories as major brands. Now they get instant alerts when their supplier ships to competitors, automated quality reports, and real-time inventory syncing.
Latenode nails this perfectly. Connect suppliers, marketplaces, and internal systems into one automated workflow handling everything from orders to competitor monitoring.
Amazon’s the biggest culprit here. AmazonBasics is basically just rebranded stuff from other manufacturers.
I worked on a project where we bought charging cables in bulk. Found the exact same cable sold by 8 different brands on Amazon, including AmazonBasics. Same factory, same specs, different packaging.
Apple does it too - their USB adapters and cables come from the same factories making generic versions.
Grocery stores are the same. Target’s Good & Gather? Made by the companies that make name brands. Same with Walmart’s Great Value.
Automotive industry’s crazy for this. Bosch makes parts for tons of car manufacturers who just slap their logos on them.
It’s smart business though. Why build your own factory when someone already nailed the process?
yeah, totally! like kirkland, they get a lotta their stuff from well-known brands. and trader joe’s is on that level too - their cool stuff is usually made by bigger companies. clever strategy for sure!
The cosmetics industry is where I’ve seen this the most. I worked retail for years and found out that drugstore makeup brands often use the same manufacturers as high-end stuff. The formulas are basically identical - just different packaging and crazy markup. L’Oreal makes products for tons of brands they don’t even own, and indie beauty companies usually just contract out to manufacturers in Italy or South Korea. What really blew my mind was learning that some luxury skincare costing hundreds comes off the exact same production lines as the cheap versions at CVS. You’re paying for fancy packaging and marketing budgets, not better quality.
tech accessories are crazy for this. hit up a trade show once - same bluetooth speaker at 12 different booths with different “brands.” only difference was the logo slapped on it. anker’s probably behind half the chargers on amazon, just with different names.
The pharma and supplement world has some wild patterns. Generic drug makers pump out meds for tons of different brands at once - that’s why generics work exactly the same as name brands. I worked with a supplement distributor and found out that big vitamin companies constantly use the same facilities in Utah and California. You’re buying identical fish oil or protein powder, but the fancy brand costs triple what the store brand does. Same exact production run. FDA standards actually make this super easy since everyone has to meet the same requirements no matter whose name goes on the bottle. The craziest part? Some famous supplement brands don’t even own factories - they’re just marketing companies that outsource everything to actual producers.
Private label manufacturing is quite prevalent in various industries. For instance, in electronics, many tablets and accessories are produced by a limited number of manufacturers in China, then marketed under numerous brand names, often at differing prices. The same is true in the supplement industry, where smaller brands typically rely on contract manufacturers to produce nearly identical products for various companies. The clothing sector follows a similar pattern, with new brands sourcing identical items from manufacturers and adding their own labels. Even well-known companies in home goods and beauty opt for this approach rather than investing in their own production facilities.