Time to Put Aside Brand Loyalty

San Francisco startup 'Brandless' is selling brandless foods and household staples exclusively online. Everything from peanut butter to agave nectar will be priced at $3. Perhaps Brandless will succeed in helping you abandon your brand loyalty.

The business model: Cut out supermarkets and traditional marketing, funneling that money instead toward making products that can compete with pricier, name-brand counterparts.

Brandless hopes its simple, one-price-for-every-product proposition will be another draw, much like the Dollar Shave Club, which upended the men’s razor market when it introduced a subscription service costing $3, $6 or $9 a month. In a few cases, $3 buys multiple Brandless items, such as a two-pack of organic macaroni and cheese. Shipping is $9, or free for orders of $72 or more. People who pay a $36-a-year membership fee get free shipping on orders of $48 or more.

How Brandless will plan on establishing its brand is a difficult question to answer. I also don't expect Brandless to overtake Amazon's grocery store business, however, their new approach toward grocery food brands is refreshing.

The trick, industry experts say, will be to convince shoppers that Brandless products are of a high enough quality that shoppers feel like they are getting a deal.

“They need to make sure their quality is by far the best in the market for the price they are charging,” said consumer-products consultant Thom Blischok, especially since price-conscious Americans, who comprise nearly three-fourths of the U.S. consumer market, generally aren’t willing to experiment with their household staples.

“The average consumer shops in multiple locations,” he said. “For some people, we’ll be their everyday destination, and for some people we will be their No. 5.”

I'm curious as to what you guys think about this. Would you have any problem buying brandless food and supplies, if it meant it was cheaper and potentially higher quality? What do you think of the future of Brandless?

Personally I feel as if brand loyalty stems from a brand's ability to establish trust with the consumer. If I may be getting a slightly different product every time I purchase from Brandless (as they could switch the product without me knowing), I'm not so sure I could easily adjust to Brandless.