Australian shoppers are blowing thousands of dollars each year by staying loyal to premium supermarket brands.

The stigma of home brands is rapidly disappearing, as research firm Canstar Blue recently observed, but many consumers stubbornly refuse to pay less for the big brands. And it’s costing them dearly.

Customers are still mesmerised by the likes of Cadbury, Heinz, Coca Cola, John West and Nescafe, Canstar Blue reported on Monday. These were some of the 20 brands that surveyed customers said they did not want to lose from supermarket shelves, which the research firm interpreted as strong loyalty – and a willingness to pay extra. (Click on the owl for the full list of brands  )

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To find out how much customers might needlessly be paying, The New Daily visited a Woolworths in Melbourne’s CBD and compared premium products named on Canstar Blue’s list with their home brand alternatives. The no-name shopping basket was $39.19 cheaper, The New Daily found.

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes was one of the premium products much more expensive than the home brand option.

Over the course of a year, if a family shopped once a week, that would amount to a saving of more than $2000 per annum.

The New Daily saved the most money by swapping Kellogg’s cereal, Kraft cheese, Lindt chocolate, Streets ice cream and Kleenex tissues for their home brand options.

Bond University marketing researcher Dr Sudhir Kale told The New Daily that customers chose to pay more because of perceptions of trust, quality, status and self image.

“Every brand is viewed as offering some kind of promise made to the customer,” Dr Kale said.

“If that promise is trustworthy then people feel they can avoid an unpleasant experience with the brand.

“The trust that people place in brands is an insurance policy against bad experiences.”

This is despite another Canstar poll finding that 76 per cent of Australians believed home brand offerings from Coles, Woolworths and Aldi were “good quality”.

The result of The New Daily‘s premium/home brand price comparison:

Arnott’s Savoy 225g $3

Woolworths SNAPZ crackers 225g $1.50

Heinz 500ml ketchup $3.20

Woolworths tomato sauce 500ml $1.50

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes 725g $5.26

Woolworths Corn Flakes 725g $3.25

Kraft cheese singles 432g $6.89

Woolworths cheese singles 500g $2.99

Coca-Cola 1.25l $2.85

Woolworths cola soft drink 1.25l 75c

Lindt sea salt dark chocolate 100g $6

Woolworths caramel sea salt chocolate 100g $3

Nestle 200g Crunch chocolate $4.50

Woolworths 200g choc nut crunch $2.50

Sanitarium Weet Bix 1kg $4.50

Woolworths wheat biscuits 1kg $2.85

Dick Smith foods Ozemite 175g $4.50

Mightymite 290g $3.24

Bega shredded tasty cheese 500g $8.19

Woolworths shredded tasty cheese 600g $5.57

SPC canned peaches in mange puree 825g $3.50

Woolworths canned peaches in mango puree 820g $3.30

Edgell sliced green beans 410g can $1.77

Woolworths sliced green beans 410g can $1.17

Uncle Toby’s oats 1kg $5.50

Woolworths oats 750g $1.19

Streets 2l vanilla ice cream $4.90

Woolworths 2l vanilla ice cream $2.19

Kleenex jumbo tissues $3

Woolworths jumbo tissues 95c

Vegemite 150g $3.35

Dick Smith foods Ozemite 175g $4.50

Golden Circle orange juice 2l $3.59

Woolworths 2l orange juice $2.40

John West tuna in brine 95g $1.99

Woolworths tuna in brine $1.89

Nescafe 16 espresso pods $8.49

Woolworths 16 espresso pods $6.29

Total (most valued brands) = $89.98

Total (Safeway home brand) = $50.79

*** Note: Vegemite had no Woolworths brand equivalent. Therefore Vegemite was compared with Dick Smith brand yeast extract spread.