Brands are familiar, but often expensive. A new online retailer¹ thinks it can offer shoppers big savings² by ditching branded goods altogether.

 

品牌产品为顾客熟识，但往往价格也很昂贵。一家全新的在线零售商认为，他们可以通过抛弃牌子货而为顾客节省大笔开销。

 

Brandless launched last month with a promise to sell only "brand-free" products for just $3 an item.

 

Its product range includes kitchen knives, olive oil, toilet cleaner and facial moisturizer. The items come in simple packaging with a white label containing key product information.

 

American serial³ entrepreneur Tina Sharkey developed Brandless with co-founder Ido Leffler, raising about $50 million from investors⁴ before the website launched.

 

Sharkey says they created Brandless to help shoppers avoid the hidden costs of buying a big brand. They even trademarked the term "BrandTax" to describe those costs.

 

Brandless sources all its products from independent manufacturers and sends them directly to distribution centers. It focuses on natural and organic items at affordable⁵ prices.

 

It says it can pass on the savings it makes by not having any brick-and-mortar stores.

 

Whether or not Brandless becomes another big name, Sharkey insists the company is doing something different.

 

"Brands still have this false narrative⁶: cartoons and animated⁷ characters that represent them, or actors on television that are riding white horses on beaches, I mean, what is that?" she said. "People want the transparency of knowing who they're doing business with."

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