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2.1 HOW TO TRY STORE BRANDS, PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS AND GENERICS AT THE SUPERMARKET

There is one very important trick to testing store brands: buy the house brand IN ADDITION to the famous name or national brand you've always bought? Why? If you hate the house brand, you won't be stuck.

If you buy 150 different products on a regular basis and try out three new store brands each week, it will take about a year to test them all.

To be realistic, I am assuming that most families will only like a half of the new brands. Always return the ones you don't like for a refund. Be sure to check the return policy of the store.

You will have much better luck if your family helps. Make it an adventure. Get your family to work out exactly how much they can save each year in your household budget. You might want to keep a running total of the annual savings as you add more family approved store brands to your regular shopping list and delete the corresponding name brands. You could promise to put the money saved aside for the kids' education or a family trip.

Make sure your family gives each product a fair test. On the first day of a new breakfast cereal, "Yuk" may be the only response you get. Give it plenty of time. Then make them participate in a blind taste test. If they can't tell the difference, your store brand has passed muster.

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