The strong power of private brands in France

It has been almost three months I am in the US now, and I have noticed the small amount of private brands in grocery stores. Indeed, in France, every hypermarket proposes its own brand for every kind of products. Carrefour for example is the second largest retail company in the world after Wall Mart. They propose frozen food, water or other kind of goods labelled with its private brand.

Basically the private brand offers good quality products for less, as there is neither commercialization costs nor marketing and communication expenses. Also, these brands allow the retailer to put pressure on their suppliers by offering them competition.

It does not seem that obvious in the US, probably because these private brands don't use the retailer's name, but in France this phenomenon is very popular.