Brandless- Is it really saving you money?
I've been seeing a lot about a company called Brandless popping up all over social media lately. I saw another blogger who was kind enough to include her referral link in her review that seemed to indicate that this was the next best thing for moms since sliced bread. I also noted that she mentioned most things on the site are around $3. As it turns out, I'm in need of diapers and I like saving money like any other mom does. I clicked the link and was greeted by a message telling me I get $6 off my first order. I also wanted to see if she was full of it- ranting and raving about how "cheap" this was- just to get sign ups. Cool? Let's go. First, I clicked on the "About" section. I immediately noticed that "Brandless" is actually trademarked and is the name of the brand itself. Interesting... and a bit misleading in my opinion. But ok. I scroll some more and take note of the claims made by the company about quality not needing to be more expensive. Noted. Instead of paraphrasing, I'll provide the images from Brandless' website here:
I liked the idea, as I'm not at all opposed to shopping generic or store brand items in the name of saving money. So I went looking for diapers.
Brandless' size 6 diapers are $9 per pack of 23. That seemed extremely pricy to me, but just to be sure, I did some math and comparison shopping. At 23 "Brandless" diapers for $9.99, that works out to forty-three cents ($0.43) per diaper. The Wal-Mart brand, "Parent's Choice" size 6 diapers are offered in a pack of 136 for $23.32- making them seventeen-cents a diaper. ($0.17) Target's brand, "Up and Up" is 104 in a pack for $21.99. That makes their version twenty-one cents per diaper. ($0.21) With this example, Brandless' brand was double, or almost triple other "brandless" brands.
But I decided to look at the reason their diapers are supposedly so awesome.
With all of these claims, I thought the closest competitors might be the Amazon brand "Mama Bear", Seventh Generation, or even Honest Company. Let's compare: Honest Company's "club box" at Target is $25.99- making the diapers fifty-nine cents per diaper. Whoa! ($0.59) Amazon's "Mama Bear" was 4 packs of 25 diapers (100 total) for $27.49 and free shipping. The cost per diaper is twenty-seven cents. ($0.27) Seventh Generation had a 60 pack at Target for $29.99, making their diapers fifty-cents apiece. ($0.50) Are Brandless' diapers the best priced? Not by a long shot- especially when they only offer this quality of diaper. It isn't even the cheapest in the organic/chemical free arena. In fact, it was the second-highest priced, just under the obnoxious cost of Honest Company. To be fair, I looked at other common household products: 6pk Toilet Tissue, Tree free, biobased, 2ply double rolls- $3 each= $0.50 a roll (and made in China) Compared to Thrive Market- 12 double rolls, 2 ply bamboo hybrid $6.99- $0.58 a roll (country of origin unknown) Caboo- Bamboo/sugarcane 32 2ply rolls- $23.73= $0.74 a roll Definitely a leader in the organic/bio-friendly butt wiping market. But how about as compared to the non-bamboo butt papers? Charmin 6pk Mega Roll (as advertised equivalent to standard rolls) is $5.19. To be fair, let's say it's equivalent to one and 1/6 rolls of standard as Brandless' rolls are 300 sheets and a Charmin Mega roll is 352 sheets.) Charmin's Mega roll works out to $0.86 a roll. BUT we need to do more math. $0.50 per roll of Brandless PLUS 1/6 the cost of a roll ($0.08) is $0.58- Fifty-eight cents total. Does it win in the toilet paper area? Yes, I'd say it's quite competitive if my opinion is based only on price. How about dish soap? Brandless' brand of non-toxic dish soap comes in a 16.5 oz bottle for $3. That's eighteen cents ($0.18) per ounce. Comparable brands include:
Mrs. Meyers, 16oz for $3.99 at Target. Twenty-five cents ($0.25) per ounce. Ecos, 25oz for $2.39 at Thrive Market. Ten cents ($0.10) per ounce.
Sun & Earth 128oz for $21.04 on Jet.com- making it six cents ($0.06) an ounce. Once again, Brandless isn't the cheapest option in its own boisterously proclaimed category by far. BUT it's not the worst, either. Keeping an open mind to the fact that I haven't tried these products yet, would I happily pay eighteen cents an ounce IF it worked well and I loved the smell? I just might. Let's keep looking. Brandless Tub & Tile Cleaner- $3 for 30 oz (Non-Toxic formula) or ten cents ($0.10) and ounce. Compared to: Honest Company: $3.99 for 26 oz- or fifteen cents an ounce. ($0.15)
Mrs. Meyers: $5.49 at Target for a 33 oz bottle is seventeen cents an ounce. ($0.17) Seventh Generation: $2.99 at Target for 32 oz- works out to nine cents an ounce. ($0.09) Still, not the cheapest. (But I think it's safe for us all to question the pricing strategy of Honest Company's products- which, while researching this article, I noticed they seem to always be at the higher end of the spectrum.) They do, however, offer refill concentrate that does seem to be quite reasonable. A 2-pack is $4, meaning the next bottle is only going to cost $2 when you refill. That's not bad at all. As for Brandless, as I searched the page, I did learn that yes, a good many items are just $3 or $4. But that wasn't always the best deal. Dishwasher packs came to twenty-one cents each, coconut chapstick type balm was two for $4- or $2 each. That seemed high to me. 8 oz of shampoo was $4, a 10 oz body wash was also $4. That seems like much at this juncture, when the market is flooded with brands you can easily pick up at the grocery store that are sulphate, phthalate, and cruelty free. This movement isn't a new one, and many companies have responded to the consumer pressure to create affordable products that meet these standards. But to be fair- it wasn't the worst option price-wise. And if it works well, is it worth it? Could be. And then, there's the cost of shipping you need to consider. Unless you're going to buy $48 worth of Brandless products to get the free shipping offer- you will pay $6.95 for shipping. That's certainly not unreasonable- BUT it is impractical for those of you that find yourself about to run out of your $3 dish soap. That soap's going to cost you $9.95, not $3. So make sure you're hitting $48 or otherwise offsetting that shipping cost. It probably won't cost you $6.95 to run to the grocery store for that single bottle of dish soap. I can't comment on the product quality outside of what the company advertises- because I haven't tried it yet, but I do plan to. This article is simply meant to serve as an investigation and comparison between Brandless' pricing and their closest competition. Certainly, they are not better priced on several products we looked at, but others were either average priced or middle of the road. A few items we saw were notably cheaper. My suggestion to you is to really take a look at what it is you're buying or plan to buy from Brandless and do your own comparison. Coupons and in-store discounts can make a world of difference in pricing and could potentially blow Brandless completely out of the water. I plan to place a general household order and I'll review the products individually and provide my honest feedback. As a rule, I'm often a skeptic of companies like this- especially when they represent themselves as no-name, or "Brandless" when that is, in fact, their brand's name. I do want to point out that Brandless also offers a subscription service, not unlike others out there. Amazon's is a subscription that offers savings. If there is a savings for subscribing versus ordering as needed, it isn't easily accessible on the company website. All I found was they send surprises with subscriptions... which... doesn't impress me. However, the company claims to have a partnership with Feeding America and have pledged to donate two meals to the needy for every subscription box they ship- and I do like that very much. So, in short, is it worth a peek? Yeah. I'd say the savvy shopper that knows her deals or isn't afraid to whip out the calculator might be able to find a good deal here. For me- I might have at the very least, found a place to get $50 in toilet paper delivered to me monthly. But I stop shy of a "you must try this" for the products I found to be better priced- until I've tried them myself. If you can't wait for the review of those products and find something you want to try for yourself, please consider using my link below. You'll save $ on your first order, and I get a lil' something from them for the referral. It definitely helps when I work hard to do these comparisons for you guys! Link is HERE Until I post my next review, please let me know in the comment section of the correlating Facebook post if you've tried them. Tell me and the other readers what you think. More to come!