The phantom brands sneaking onto Australian supermarket shelves

Australian supermarkets are quietly revamping their home brand packaging, making it more and more difficult for shoppers to identify who really owns the product they're buying.

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have rolled out their own "phantom brands" for a variety of goods, ranging from dog food to frozen vegetables.

While the brands are generally low-price, the products are cleverly designed to resemble private labels and make no mention of being supermarket owned.

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Retail researcher from the Queensland University of Technology Gary Mortimer told 2GB's Chris O'Keefe phantom brands look like real brands but they're produced under licence and contract for the big supermarkets.

"When you think about certain products you buy from the supermarket; things like baby food, dog food, shampoos or hand sanitisers, you don't particularly want to have a Coles or Woolworths or IGA brand plastered across it," he said.

Mortimer said home brands were traditionally associated with lower quality and therefore less value, forcing retailers to look for a middle ground.

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"You'll still have your Coke, your Arnott's Tim Tam, Cadbury," Mortimer said.

"The big brands are never going to disappear, you'll have your plain generic brand – your supermarket brand – and another brand that sits in the middle."

Mortimer said the introduction of Aldi supermarkets had affected how other retailers packaged and sold their home brand products.

In 2016, Woolworths launched its own range of phantom brands. Coles followed suit in 2020 with brands including "Wild Tides" tuna and "KOI" toiletries.

Aldi sells no "ALDI" branded products. Instead it trades in phantom brands, such as "Belmont" ice cream, "Radiance" cleaning product and "Lacura" skin care.

"They've improved the quality, Aldi has certainly legitimised private labelling in Australia. It's forced other players to lift their game," Mortimer said.

"When you think about eggs and breads, they're not really being shipped in from anywhere, they're made from the same producers in Australia."

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