Customers Wonder Why You'll Sometimes See The Kirkland Logo On Name-Brand Items At Costco

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The Kirkland Signature brand is half the reason why people hold onto their Costco membership card. Think about it — what brand sells you a whole-roasted pig, an entire wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano, and olive oil by the pallet all at a decent price you wouldn't find anywhere else? Here's the thing: Costco products are mostly white-labeled, meaning someone else makes the product, and the chain puts on a new label and sells it under the Kirkland brand. As you browse the warehouse aisles, however, you'd eventually come across a few Kirkland products that have either the logo or name of the original manufacturer printed right alongside the Kirkland logo.

For instance, take a look at these Kirkland Signature Jelly Belly Beans. Just beneath the familiar Kirkland logo, there's the Jelly Belly logo. There's also the Kirkland Signature Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, another dual-branded product. Of course, this is very much out of the norm. With most Kirkland products, you'll need to do a lot of detective work to figure out who the original supplier is — or take a look at our list of 12 brands behind your favorite Costco products. Naturally, this has made a lot of people, including many Redditors, wonder why exactly that is.

At the moment, we don't have concrete information on why some products are dual-branded and some aren't. However, the good people of Reddit have quite a lot of interesting (and plausible) theories. The number one possible explanation, according to one Reddit user who claimed to have worked in logistics, is marketing. "Some brands probably see the value of association with Kirkland," the user suggests, "and some brands probably have a policy about where their name brand is used." Sounds like a reputation boost.

Others can be a bit "shyer" about this, another Redditor theorizes, adding, "It's dependent on the connection the brand wants to have." For instance, Ocean Spray might've projected that the Kirkland juice wouldn't compete much with its own offerings, so the manufacturer didn't mind getting the dual branding. But these are all speculations. Right now, we don't have any official clarification directly from Costco explaining why one product may be dual-branded and another isn't. So, for now, all we can really do is theorize while sipping our Kirkland-Ocean Spray juice thoughtfully.