From Cold To Hot
Sabeco, El Corte Inglés and Carrefour all offer private label mineral water and a typical Spanish beverage called gaseosa, which is similar to lemonade and is often mixed with wine or beer.
PL products are a hot item in Spain, so it's no surprise supermarkets offer a thriving range of hot and cold PL drinks.
Thrifty shoppers will often skip brand name products and opt for the private label option, but in difficult economic times, there’s an undeniable boom in the PL market. According to an article on the website www.cotizalia.com from 25 August, a recent economic bulletin published by Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade revealed that PL Spanish products are on average 38% less expensive than leading food and beverage brands. It also states that PL products in Spain have increased their market share to 32%, more than in any other European country. In these tough times, how do Spaniards satisfy their pocketbooks and quench their thirst? By taking advantage of the wide range of PL hot and cold beverages in supermarkets nationwide. This article looks at store brand beverages in Sabeco, Carrefour and El Corte Inglés.
Sabeco’s best-known PL brand is Auchan, for which the logo is a red and green bird, but it also has another range of products sold at even more economical prices whose names vary; they can, however, usually be found under a green sign hanging from the shelf that reads “¡El más barato!” (The cheapest!). Sometimes that brand logo is a thumbs up sign, while other times it’s called Berta, Heifer or El Cañar.
Carrefour’s products are sold under two labels, one of which is the Carrefour name with a white logo, and the other is a less expensive option sold under the red and white label “1”.
As for El Corte Inglés, roughly six months ago it added a new PL product to its offer. The new brand is called Aliada and is the most economical option on its shelves, undercutting the El Corte Inglés label. The logo is red and white with a circle and a check, and products stand out thanks to plastic signs perpendicular to the shelf which read: “Nuevo producto: Aquí esta el máximo ahorro” (New product: Biggest savings here).
Starting the Day Right
The El Corte Inglés soy drink features that it is 100% vegetable, cholesterol free, and lactose free. Carrefour features boxes letting the consumer know it has natural flavor and is cholesterol free.
What’s the best way to start the day? With a fresh cup of PL coffee, of course! All three stores have extremely extensive offers. At Sabeco, one option comes in brown square packaging. This 250-g Auchan item reads “Café molido natural” (Natural ground coffee) in red letters on a white background, flanked by the bird logo on the right and below that a photo of a hot cup of coffee. The name Auchan figures at the bottom (€0.99) and this is available, as are most of the products, in regular and decaf versions.
An ¡El más barato! (the cheapest) option comes in a simple 250-g tan package (€0.89) featuring the thumbs up logo at the top and the text “Café molido mezla” (Ground coffee mix), followed by a photo of coffee beans and a sack. Yet another coffee on offer comes in a thick brown 250-g bag (€1.55). The bird logo appears at the top left, the text reads “Colombia” in large letters, below is a red and yellow Inca-inspired drawing and to the bottom left is a cup of coffee.
If espresso is more your style, rest assured: Auchan offers “Café molido espresso” (Ground espresso coffee). It comes in a 250-g black box (€1.55) with the aforementioned text in large white writing, the bird on the left and a photo of an espresso machine. Sabeco also sells Auchan instant coffee. One 200-g option (€2.23) comes in a brown clear canister with a brown top and a brown and red label which reads: “Café soluble natural” (Natural instant coffee); it has a photo of a cup of coffee and coffee beans. The bird appears on the top left and the Auchan logo on the bottom. The 200-g decaf version sells for €2.60.
Carrefour offers a value pack (Envase ahorra) which comes in a 500-g brown package (€0.58) with the logo in white at the top right, the text “Café molido” (Ground coffee) on the left, “Natural” below the logo and a photo of coffee beans, ground coffee and a coffee grinder. A single 250-g package of regular or decaffeinated coffee comes in a blue paper package with a similar design: the logo, text boxes and photo (€0.81). As for instant coffee, the 100-g PL product (€1.29) comes in a clear plastic canister with a brown top and label featuring the logo at the top and text reading “Café soluble” (Instant coffee), “Tueste natural, 100% café” (Natural roast, 100% coffee); below is an aerial photo of a cup of coffee. The 200-g version has an identical design and costs €1.99.
Auchan's Thumbs Up brand (far right) has the text "Zumo, Sumo" (Spanish and Portuguese) followed by bilingual text. El Corte Inglés features text in Portuguese on the left and English on the right. Auchan orange juice comes in a green box with the word "Laranja" and photos of oranges.
Carrefour also sells various coffee products under its “1” label. The 200-g instant coffee option (€1.79) comes in a clear plastic canister with the red logo at the top and the text “Instant coffee, natural roast”, below which is a cup up coffee, while the “Café molido mezcla 50/50” (Ground coffee mix 50/50) comes in a red box with the logo at the top and a photo of ground coffee at the bottom (250 g for €0.81).
El Corte Inglés also has many options on offer, from ground to instant. A 250-g box of “Ground roast coffee mixture” (€1.65) which is “50% natural” and “50% roast” comes with a brown-toned label featuring a map of the world in the background and a cup of steaming coffee at the bottom center beside a plate of coffee beans. The store label features at the top of the product. The decaffeinated version comes in identical packaging and sells for the same price. Instant coffee, which comes in a clear plastic canister with a red top and the same label design except for the obvious indications has the following prices: 100 grams for €2.39 and 200 grams for €4.20. The store also sells a 250-g Aliada package of ground coffee (€1.29). The product features a photo of coffee beans at the top, below which is a wide red band with text in white, followed by an aerial photo of a cup of coffee. The text, “Ground roast coffee, 50% natural, 50% roast”, appears in Spanish and Portuguese and the logo is at the top right of the red band.
Let Them Drink Milk
From coffee beans to instant coffee, private label options are plentiful to help shoppers wake up. Images of coffee beans, cups of coffee, and coffee grinds adorn these private label packages in Spain.
Shoppers looking for soy milk will find it at Carrefour and El Corte Inglés. The former’s 1-L tetra brik (€0.99) can be found not in the milk section, but among the store’s dietetic foods. This product comes in a green carton that reads “Bebida de soja” (Soy drink) at the top. The logo appears on the right, below which is the text: “Sabor natural, Sin colesterol” (Natural flavor, cholesterol free).
The latter’s soy milks come in 1-L tetra briks and are available in both regular (€1.57) and chocolate (€1.67). As in Carrefour, this milk is stacked in the dietetic foods section where they form part of the store’s healthy brand, Special Line. Text on the PL soy milk carton is in Spanish and English and states that the beverage is a “Calcium enriched soy drink”; it features a glass alongside soy beans. Additional text reads: “100% vegetable, cholesterol free, and lactose free”.
Add Some Fizz in Your Life
All three shops sell a typical Spanish beverage called gaseosa, which is similar to lemonade and is often mixed with wine or beer. Sabeco’s PL gaseosa is sold under the brand Berta. This product comes in a tall, clear plastic bottle with a blue label and Berta written in bold, white, script letters across the top at a slight angle. Above the name is a drawing of half of a sun in yellow. Then it says “Gaseosa” in large blue lettering with a white and blue backdrop. The 0.5-L bottle (€0.24) is located above the ¡El más barato! sign. This product also comes in a 2-L lemon-lime version (€0.53) with the same design, except that the bottle and label are green.
Carrefour gaseosa also comes in two sizes: a 50-cL bottle (€0.18) and a 1.5-L bottle (€0.25). They both come in tall, clear plastic packaging with a blue label that reads “Gaseoso, Gasosa” in white at the top with the store logo and name on the right. Below is a blue-toned photo of water.
El Corte Inglés follows suit with its PL products, which come in a 50-cL bottle (€0.31) and a 1.5-L bottle (€0.39). They come in a clear plastic bottle with a red, white and silver label and the green triangular store logo front and center. The label design is comprised of bubbles and stripes of color, with the words “Gaseosa” on one side and “Lemonade” on the other.
A Tall Drink of Water
In the mineral water department, again all three stores have products on offer. Sabeco offers a 50-cL clear plastic bottle (€0.24) sporting a three-part label. The top third has a photo of a family in blue and white. The second third reads “Agua mineral natural” (Natural mineral water) in white lettering over a blue background, and the bottom third shows a green field and white mountains. The bird logo peeks out of the left-hand side, while Auchan appears in red and white at the bottom of the label. Under the ¡El más bárato! sign is a 1.5-L bottle of water (€0.20) whose label also informs that it is natural mineral water (in Spanish) at the top, followed by “El Cañar de Jaraba” below it.
Carrefour’s 50-cL water option (€0.20) comes in a clear plastic bottle with a blue squirt top. The blue label follows the trend, indicating that it is natural mineral water (in Spanish) on the left with the store name and logo on the right, below which is text stating “mineralización débil” (weak mineralisation). Right below it on the shelf the store sells a 1.5-L bottle (€0.22) in identical packaging. On the very bottom shelf is a red and yellow sign offering shoppers the ability to “Ahorra más que nunca” (Save more than ever), where they can buy giant 4-L bottles of PL water (€0.69).
El Corte Inglés mineral waters also come in a range of bottle sizes: the 33-cL (€0.25), the 50-cL (€0.30), and the 1.5-L (€0.39). They all have the same label: the top is light blue, the bottom dark blue, and they are joined in the middle by the green El Corte Inglés logo. They’re all called “Monte Pinos mineral water”. The same product with the same label is available in an elegant long-stemmed 1-L glass bottle (€0.75).
We Got the Juice
Juice is a product of many shelves. Shoppers at Sabeco can buy the Auchan 1-L tetra briks of orange, peach-grape and pineapple-grape juices (€0.72). Their colors vary with their contents, but the design is always essentially the same: the photo of the family, the bird logo on the right-hand side of the carton, the words “Sumo 100%” (in Portuguese), the product type: laranga (orange, again in Portuguese), followed by photos of the fruit and the Auchan name at the bottom. The ¡El más barato! option here is the green thumb; buyers can pick up orange, peach-grape and pineapple-grape juices. The orange juice comes in a 1-L green tetra brik (€0.52) with the thumbs up logo at the top center, followed by the text “Zumo, Sumo” (Spanish and Portuguese) below which are photos of the corresponding fruit and the bilingual text reading “Juice made from concentrate”.
Carrefour also sells a wide range of juices. One option comes in tall 1-L cartons (€1.55) featuring the store logo at the top right in white, text below which reads “100% zumo exprimido” (100% squeezed juice) and then photos of the fruit: apple, peach, pineapple or orange. The store also offers a “BioEco” option in apple and orange. These 1-L tetra briks (€1.99) are sold in light green cartons with boxes featuring photos of the fruit. In the case of apple juice, the package features text (in Spanish and Portuguese) which reads: “Zumo de manzana, producto de agricultura ecológica” (Apple juice, a product of ecological agriculture), below which is a seal from the European Community. The standard 1-L tetra brik (€0.68) of juice is also available at Carrefour. Orange juice, for example, comes in a green box with the word “Naranja” at the top in an orange box, the store logo to the right, and text boxes below which read “Zumo, a base de concentrado” (Juice, made from concentrate) and “Sin azucares añadidos, fuente de vitamina C” (No sugar added, source of vitamin C). On the left-hand side of the box are photos of oranges. This option is also available in pineapple-grape and peach-grape.
El Corte Inglés offers the most extensive range of products and packaging. One option is a set of juices which come in 1-L silver cartons: cranberry (€1.70), pomegranate and grape (€1.90), vegetable (€1.70) and red berry (€1.90). The boxes feature the name of the juice in big red letters at the top, below which is the green store logo, followed by a beautiful photo of the fruit and text in Spanish, Portuguese and English, stating “No added colors or preservatives, no added sugar, natural source of antioxidants”. Another option is a range of juices, available in tropical fruit, peach-grape, pineapple-grape, orange and apple. The 1-L tetra briks (€0.77) feature the name of the juice at the top in large letters, the PL logo right below it, and text in Portuguese on the left and English on the right reading, for example, “Apple juice from concentrate”. Below are photos of the fruit, and this particular box has a circular sign on the bottom right stating that it is “Enriched with vitamin C”.
Cheers!
Sabeco, El Corte Inglés and Carrefour each have a private label beer named simply, Cerveza, the Spanish word for beer. Auchan's brand, called Heifer, and Carrefour's larger beer, simply called Lager, have the word for beer in four languages on the can.
Beer drinkers looking for a break are in luck. There are various PL options available, including Sabeco’s Auchan product, simply called “Cerveza” (Beer). It comes in a red and gold 33-cL can (€0.32) with the word “Lager” just above the name. A multilingual display of words for beer Surrounds the rim of the can. The Auchan logo appears in the center-bottom as a gold box with white writing and the bird is incorporated into the letter A. Just below this product is the ¡El más barato! option: a 33-cL can (€0.25) called Heifer; the name appears in large red and white lettering across the center. The can is green and gold and sports a white circle behind the product name; “beer” in four languages also appears at the top and bottom of the can.
Carrefour’s beer comes in two sizes: 33 cL (€0.33) and 50 cL (€0.37). The smaller can is teal and dark green with the shadow of an eagle in the background. The front reads “Cerveza Especial 1516” and the store logo appears in white on the side. The larger can is bronze and white with the store label at the top right. It says “Lager” at the top and right in the center “beer” appears in 4 languages, similar to Sabeco’s PL can.
El Corte Inglés offers beer under the PL and Aliada labels. As regards the former, the 33-cL can (€0.40) is dark green with a oval on the front with the store logo in the center. Above it reads “Cerveza” and below “Cerveja, Beer”. As for the latter, the logo appears at the top, below which are a yellow square design and a circular border around the words “Cerveza” and “Cerveja”. This product has an alcohol content of 4.5% and 33-cL cans sell for €0.28.
The Shopper’s Choice
In short, Spain’s supermarkets have no small supply of PL hot and cold beverages, and often the range of options is extensive and growing. From coffee to juice and water to beer, Spaniards are sure to have their thirst quenched every which way at very competitive prices.
