It’s nowhere near as simple as that. Store brand products have one special, massive advantage over non-store products. They don’t need to fight for shelf space - they are guaranteed it. As a result they don’t need to market heavily because they will automatically get the exposure they need. Try doing that with a non-store brand. Chances are you will go bust before you get the opportunity to build a reutation for quality.
The other issue here is that an overtly ‘basic’ brand name and trade dress is a form of marketing. Some people will go out of their way to seek out such products, for them its useful product differentiation and in fact it works exactly the same way as brand differentiation. It’s not actually any cheaper either, it isn’t any less expensive to print a generic label as a fancy one. The guveaway is packaging quality, it’s usualy comparable on store brand goods because in reality people aren’t looking to trade off quality for price. They’re trying to get quality products cheaper. It’s all just signaling.
The other issue here is that an overtly ‘basic’ brand name and trade dress is a form of marketing. Some people will go out of their way to seek out such products, for them its useful product differentiation and in fact it works exactly the same way as brand differentiation. It’s not actually any cheaper either, it isn’t any less expensive to print a generic label as a fancy one. The guveaway is packaging quality, it’s usualy comparable on store brand goods because in reality people aren’t looking to trade off quality for price. They’re trying to get quality products cheaper. It’s all just signaling.