We’ve probably all suspected it happened, but now there’s proof. Supermarkets lead us to believe that their house brand products are exclusive to their stores, but now glitches in the system have shown that they’re all really the exact same product with different labels. So we’re often paying more for the identical item.

A few incidents over the last few weeks have left consumers scratching their heads with confusion as supermarket’s secrets have inadvertently been revealed.

It’s The Same Juice…Different Label

A customer shopping at Coles recently discovered Woolworths-branded fruit juice displayed on the shelves at her local Coles supermarket.

Luci Anne, from Port Lincoln, shared her odd find in a TikTok video, showing images of the 2-litre bottles of $2 Woolworths’ Multivitamin Juice stacked right next to the Coles-brand of the same product, which is also sold for $2.

“Even Coles knows Woolworths is superior,” she commented on the video.

Luci then followed up with a second video showing how she tried to purchase the item but when she tried to scan the juice at a self-checkout, an “item not found” message was displayed.

 

Something Went Wrong!

Viewers were quite amused by Luci’s video, which has attracted over 72,000 likes and more than one thousand comments.

“There’s a glitch in the matrix,” one commenter said.

Same Factory! Same Product!

Many were convinced that the discovery was proof that supermarkets displayed pretty much the same products with different labels.

“Aldis, Coles, Woolies & Drakes all use similar products. I worked in a food factor and legit same product different label to different store,” one person said.

“Because it comes from the same factory. That juice is the same as some of the more expensive ones.”

“I work at Woolies and sometimes we get other store’s shipments. We have gotten stuff for IGA once (like Black and Gold brand),” shared another.

@lucianne350Even coles knows Woolworths is superior ##woolworths ##coles ##juice ##fyp ##awkward♬ original sound – JuiceGirl

Is This A Prank?

Luci spoke to news.com.au saying:
“The young dude that helped me at the self-service said, ‘Surely someone is pranking us,’ and then showed his co worker and they had a laugh about it,” Luci said.

“I told them there was a whole box on the shelf he went to got it off and I got my bottle of juice for free,” she added.

Coles Said They Had No Idea How It Happened

Coles told news.com.au that they were investigating the incident:
“All cartons are scanned at different points throughout our supply chain and we’ll be following this up with our supplier and Distribution Centre today to find out how this product ended up on our shelves.”

It Happened At Aldi Too

This is not the first incident of confused product identities. A few weeks ago, a Queensland shopper reported that she found Woolworths-branded frankfurts in the fridge section of Aldi.

The Aldi version of the product is priced at $2.39, while the Woolworths housebrand cocktail frankfurts sell for $2.50.

It’s A Scam!

The customer shared the photo of the Cocktail sausages on the Aldi Mums Facebook group and shoppers were convinced that this was proof that they were being ripped off.

“This just proves they use same suppliers and with the look-a-like packaging as printers for different brands can use same ink,” one shopper said.

“Yep, shows people how the same product is just rebranded and priced differently according to each individual company,” another declared.

“It all comes from the same factories, just get labelled differently for different stores. Same as breads from Tip Top they still put it in an Aldi bag,” said another.

Are you surprised about these discoveries? Do you feel ripped off by the supermarkets? Tell us in the comments below.

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