SensoGram 14: Housebrands & Generics: How Good is Too Good?     For a generic product, how good is too good? The answer here depends, of course on who you are! For the consumer, housebrands and generics can never be too good; ideally, they offer the same quality at a reduced price. The retailer may feel the same way. But for the manufacturer and marketer of branded products the perils are clear. If you manufacture and pack generics in addition to your branded product, and the quality of the generics is not discriminably inferior to your branded product then brand erosion is on the horizon. The fact is, the only certain way to maintain the edge for a branded product over a generic is to ensure that its is perceptibly superior in product quality. You may be able to sustain a brand with imagery alone, but chances are that sooner or later many consumers will realise that the product under the generic label is just as good, and switch allegiance accordingly. From the brand manufacturer’s perspective, then, a generic product should be manufactured to be ‘satisfactory’ (otherwise you will incur the wrath of the retailer), but it should not deliver completely. At SensoMetrics we work with the concept of ‘Consumer Noticeable Difference’, or CMD. From the manufacturer’s point of view, this is the amount by which the generic product should be inferior to the branded product. If a generic product is one CMD below its branded counterpart, then consumers will notice the quality decrement when they try it. The product will perform "OK", but the tradeoff of quality and price will be readily apparent. Thus, consumers may opt to pay less and put up with lower quality, or pay the regular price for full satisfaction – the choice is theirs. To maintain the standing and integrity of your brand over generics, it must offer perceptively more in product quality.