英國中產階級偏愛超市自主品牌

Admire them for their prudence - but don't tell their friends.

Middle-income earners are the most enthusiastic consumers of supermarket own-brand products.

Almost half (48 per cent) of those earning between £25,000 and £50,000 said they would always choose a supermarket label - generally considered a budget option - when possible, a survey has found.

But more than 10 per cent of them say they are too embarrassed to admit to their friends that they do so.

However, they will draw a line in their hunt for a food bargain.

More than a third of middle earners said they would only shop in a supermarket they deemed to be 'socially reputable', with Sainsbury's and Waitrose topping the popularity poll.

Of these, two thirds (62 per cent) claimed that the main motive was a fear of being judged financially on where they shopped.

Of the 48 per cent of middle earners who always chose own-brand products, 10 per cent said they tried to avoid buying any other type of branded good, with 62 per cent admitting frugality and just 12 per cent believing own brand items were of better quality.

But 14 per cent of those who bought the supermarket brands would not want their friends to know.

A spokesman for MyVoucher-Codes, which carried out the research, said: 'Although stereotype would have us believe that own brand means a lack of quality, it seems that the middle class is more financially motivated when food shopping, shunning the initial prejudices that often lead to their choice of supermarket.'

He added that standards have risen to such an extent that a supermarket own brand does not necessarily mean lower quality than the known food label.

你可以讚賞他們會過日子，但千萬別告訴他們的朋友。

英國中等收入者是超市自有品牌商品最忠實的消費者。

一項調查發現，英國年收入在2.5萬至5萬英鎊之間的人中，近一半（48%）的人在購物時會盡可能地選擇價格一般較爲低廉的超市自有品牌商品。

但超過10%的人因爲覺得不好意思，而不會跟朋友說起他們的這一消費習慣。

然而，這些超市自有品牌的忠誠消費者也有他們的原則。

超過三分之一的中等收入者說他們只會選擇去他們認爲“有名氣”的超市購物，其中聖百利和維特羅斯超市最受歡迎。

其中三分之二的人（62%）稱選擇“有名氣”超市的主要原因是害怕別人會據此對他們的經濟狀況評頭論足。

在中等收入者中，48%的人一直都是選擇超市自有品牌商品，10%的人稱他們一般儘量不去購買任何其他品牌的商品，62%的人承認自己很節儉，只有12%的人認爲超市自有品牌質量更好。

不過，14%購買超市品牌商品的人不願意讓朋友知道他們的這一消費習慣。

開展該調查的代幣券公司MyVoucher-Codes的一名發言人說：“儘管人們對超市自有品牌抱有成見，認爲它們質量不好，但似乎中產階級在購買食品時，會更多地從經濟方面考慮，拋開最初讓他們選擇有名氣超市的那些偏見。”

他說，如今的產品質量標準大幅提升，超市自有品牌並不一定比名牌商品質量差。

Vocabulary:

prudence: care and good sense that someone shows when making a decision or taking action 節儉；善於經營

own-brand: products which have the trademark or label of the shop which sells them, especially a supermarket chain. They are normally cheaper than other popular brands. 自家品牌的（指產品以商店自定的品牌出售）

budget: low in price 價格低廉的；花錢少的