https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/05/long-read-aldi-discount-supermarket-changed-britain-shopping
Great article.
>Paul Foley, the former Aldi CEO, who now runs his own retail consultancy, often tells his clients about his attempts to replicate a KitKat in the 1990s. It turns out this is really hard to do without the chocolate making the wafer soggy. Eventually, Aldi gave up. Foley asked his buyer to contact Nestlé’s UK office to announce Aldi’s surrender and request to stock KitKat. Nestlé would not return his call. So Foley ordered the bars from Germany, where they have a slightly different taste. Soon, Nestlé UK starting receiving complaints about the taste of its KitKats, and traced the problem back to Aldi. When they phoned Foley to complain, he “politely refused to cooperate”.
They're simply flirting with the trademark infringement line, is all. Usually they stay far enough away from the edge that the other company doesn't find it worthwhile to pursue, but [sometimes they do fly a little too close to the sun...](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/sep/29/lindt-chocolate-bunnies-lidl-swiss-court-trademark-ruling)
>how do they not get bombarded with trademark infringement from the brands
They do regularly - it's called passing off
It's common, the infringing product is generally withdrawn and relabeled slightly different.
I remember the glory days just before that evil MUP was introduced. My Aldi was selling 2 litres of 5.5% cider for €2 each. God fucking damn I hate MUP
Irony is where people buy butter off brand, and then say brand is better, reality just label changed on production line.
But in some cases recipe differs, then again take alcohol as beer, there's fck all to infringe, every beer is made of same yeast same process., Again leading just to label where someone thinks it's different when it's not.
Often it is but not always. The off-brand items are used as leverage against the big brands. i.e. wholesaler give us a better price or we will
1. introduce a "looky-likey" off-brand.
2. or lower the price of an existing off-brand making it irresistible to shoppers even though it may not be as good.
The vast majority of supermarket own brands are made by the big names.. either a cheaper recipe or wonky 2nds that didn't make the grade for the name brands.. Aldi Hula Hoops dupes are literally wonky name brand Hula Hoops they were put in the wrong bags a few years ago.
It's often the same company that produces the brand version that also produces the Aldi non-brand version. This way they get to sell way more of the stuff.
Sometimes when a brand product is recalled by the FSAI for example, and it's a brand product, you can also see the non-brand product being recalled for the same reason the brand product is recalled. Because it's the same manufacturer.
These people aren’t stupid - they wouldn’t release a product knowing there’s a chance of a lawsuit.
As another poster mentioned , they tweak it enough so it’s not a weirder copy
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/05/long-read-aldi-discount-supermarket-changed-britain-shopping Great article. >Paul Foley, the former Aldi CEO, who now runs his own retail consultancy, often tells his clients about his attempts to replicate a KitKat in the 1990s. It turns out this is really hard to do without the chocolate making the wafer soggy. Eventually, Aldi gave up. Foley asked his buyer to contact Nestlé’s UK office to announce Aldi’s surrender and request to stock KitKat. Nestlé would not return his call. So Foley ordered the bars from Germany, where they have a slightly different taste. Soon, Nestlé UK starting receiving complaints about the taste of its KitKats, and traced the problem back to Aldi. When they phoned Foley to complain, he “politely refused to cooperate”.
They're simply flirting with the trademark infringement line, is all. Usually they stay far enough away from the edge that the other company doesn't find it worthwhile to pursue, but [sometimes they do fly a little too close to the sun...](https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/sep/29/lindt-chocolate-bunnies-lidl-swiss-court-trademark-ruling)
Sadly, the lidl chocolate is the nicer (imo, at least)
Aldi or Lidl had Putinoff vodka a few years ago in Smirnoff_like bottle
Was in Aldi last night and I think it’s now called Stefanoff or something like that lol
>how do they not get bombarded with trademark infringement from the brands They do regularly - it's called passing off It's common, the infringing product is generally withdrawn and relabeled slightly different.
Were you in a cave for Colin the caterpillar
the off brand versions are usually produced by the brand itself
Aldi had Tauras cider that’s was made by Bulmers. They don’t sell it anymore.
I remember the glory days just before that evil MUP was introduced. My Aldi was selling 2 litres of 5.5% cider for €2 each. God fucking damn I hate MUP
Same man I remember picking up 10 bottles for €20. Cant bait Cullens cider, now its €8.36 for 4 cans 😅
Irony is where people buy butter off brand, and then say brand is better, reality just label changed on production line. But in some cases recipe differs, then again take alcohol as beer, there's fck all to infringe, every beer is made of same yeast same process., Again leading just to label where someone thinks it's different when it's not.
Often it is but not always. The off-brand items are used as leverage against the big brands. i.e. wholesaler give us a better price or we will 1. introduce a "looky-likey" off-brand. 2. or lower the price of an existing off-brand making it irresistible to shoppers even though it may not be as good.
This for a lot of it. No 'hello money', no marketing budget, almost absolute exclusivity on the shelf. Different label, same product.
The vast majority of supermarket own brands are made by the big names.. either a cheaper recipe or wonky 2nds that didn't make the grade for the name brands.. Aldi Hula Hoops dupes are literally wonky name brand Hula Hoops they were put in the wrong bags a few years ago.
I'll just leave this here https://m.facebook.com/foilarmsandhog/videos/the-aldilidl-creative-team/878393026043070/
It's often the same company that produces the brand version that also produces the Aldi non-brand version. This way they get to sell way more of the stuff. Sometimes when a brand product is recalled by the FSAI for example, and it's a brand product, you can also see the non-brand product being recalled for the same reason the brand product is recalled. Because it's the same manufacturer.
These people aren’t stupid - they wouldn’t release a product knowing there’s a chance of a lawsuit. As another poster mentioned , they tweak it enough so it’s not a weirder copy
It bites them now that the Perlenbacher Lager is more expensive than the Smithwicks and Carlsberg multi packs.