what is a white label product 
white label products are sold by retailers with their own branding and logo but the products themselves are manufactured by a third party white labeling occurs when the manufacturer of an item uses the branding requested by the purchaser or marketer instead of its own the end product appears as though it s been produced by the purchaser understanding a white label productwhite label products are manufactured by a third party not the company that sells them or necessarily even markets them the advantage is that a single company doesn t have to go through the entire process of creating and selling a product one firm can concentrate on producing the product another on marketing it and another can focus on selling it each according to its expertise and preference the major benefits of white label branding are that it saves companies time energy and money in terms of production and marketing costs another big advantage of private label brands is that the average transportation expenses might be lower than usual and the company would benefit from distributional economies of scale if a supermarket has an exclusive deal with a manufacturer the retailer could sell the product for less and still reap a bigger profit margin because of lower transportation costs businesses that use white label productswhite label products may technically appear in any industry or sector but large retailers have done quite well with them companies like whole foods and walmart have benefited by selling their own branded products that have been created by other manufacturers this strategy allows retailers to maintain control over branding packaging and pricing while offering consumers exclusive products that align with their brand identity private label branding isn t limited to the supermarket segment major electronics manufacturers of top tier mobile phones and computers often put their brand names on cheaper priced white label products to expand their offerings private label brands have become increasingly popular suggesting that consumers are becoming more sensitive to price and less loyal to their favorite traditional brands 1 the growth of private label brands is hurting national brands and the manufacturers market share in many countries beauty and cosmetics brands usually leverage white label products these brands can collaborate with manufacturers to customize skincare makeup and hair care products under their branding for instance skincare companies may white label anti aging serums or moisturizers tailoring formulations and packaging to appeal to their target demographics however the skincare company itself would not be responsible for manufacturing the product health and wellness companies often utilize white label products to offer a broad range of dietary supplements vitamins and herbal remedies under their own brand names by partnering with reputable manufacturers these companies can ensure the quality and efficacy of their products food and beverage brands often utilize white label products to offer a wide array of private label goods such as snacks beverages condiments and packaged foods by partnering with manufacturers these brands can maintain control over product quality as more stringent health code compliant production plants can generate the food items white label products don t always have to be tangible items service offerings have also adopted white labeling some banks use white label services like credit card processing when they don t have these services in house businesses that have no banking operations often extend branded credit cards to their customers and this is also a form of white labeling l l bean inc offers its consumers a branded mastercard and macy s m offers its customers a branded card theirs is provided by american express axp 23advantages and disadvantages of white label productsthe concept of white labeling comes with numerous considerations both positive and negative real world examplethe u s based warehouse club operator costco cost is one large retailer that s being creative with branding with its kirkland brand of private label products does this mean that costco makes all the kirkland products you see on the shelves not at all they simply contract with various producers that have agreed to put their products into the kirkland packaging 4a kirkland branded product often sits next to the national brand that makes the product on the shelf identical products different names and the national brand selling at a higher price costco sells saran wrap saran is a trade name owned by s c johnson son but costco also sells its own kirkland signature stretch tite plastic food wrap costco has further blurred the line between national brands and private labels by using premium offerings and co branding strategies with the likes of starbucks sbux quaker oats a subsidiary of pepsico inc pep and tyson foods inc tsn 