Durabrand is a

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

tradename of

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, which was introduced in early 1999. It is currently available in the UK through ASDA, where it was previously known as Pacific.

Introduction

Durabrand was first started in early 1999 as a brand only made for

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarte ...

stores as a

generic brand Generic brands of consumer products (often supermarket goods) are distinguished by the absence of a brand name, instead identified solely by product characteristics and identified by plain, usually black-and-white packaging. Generally they imita ...

for electronics, but has grown to be available near-internationally (due to Wal-Mart's global reach). Wal-Mart Germany was the first country to introduce the private label with a lineup in Consumer Electronics. Responsible for the first launch in 1999 were Uwe Bremeyer (Senior Buyer Dept. 5) and Michael Werry (Buyer Dept. 5), since 2002 Martin Schulz (Senior Buyer Dept. 5) & Frank Mades (Divisional Merchandise Manager Electronics) for Wal-Mart Germany. The very first product launched was a 120 min Videocassette produced at RAKS in Manisa (Turkey). Durabrand radio

The products are marked for only

stores and available in very few other stores than Wal-Mart. Like most

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

brands, Durabrand is a chain of different manufacturers. Durabrand is chained with Lenoxx Sound, Alco,

Funai is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as ...

(which would also include Emerson, Sylvania, and Symphonic), Orion,

Maxell , commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics. The company's name is a contraction of "Maximum capacity dry cell". Its main products are batteries, wireless charging products, storage devices, LCD/lase ...

Resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillat ...

, Initial Technology, and many other different companies. The prices of a majority of their products are often considered loss leaders. Durabrand does have some "company rivals," despite the low prices, their products are matched up between other in-house brands like Wal-Mart's

iLo The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

brand (considered as an upmarket brand, offers MP3 digital audio players and plasma video displays), Target's TruTech brand; and to an extent, K-Mart's former Curtis Mathes/ White-Westinghouse (in the mid-to-late 1990s) now Home Essentials brand. Due to the fact that all of these are store brands, the stores are often competitive to get buyers to their store brand. Aside from store brands, Durabrand is matched up to Coby Electronics, Jwin, GPX, and other low-cost electronics brands. Durabrand offers audio equipment ( CD players, alarm clocks, boomboxes, theater systems) and video equipment ( VCRs,

DVD players A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to wa ...

televisions Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

). However, it has also been lately focused on home appliances such as kitchen equipment, telephones, vacuums, and other general home appliances.

Products

* Media (

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the int ...

CD-RW CD-RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable) is a digital optical disc storage format introduced in 1997. A CD-RW compact disc (CD-RWs) can be written, read, erased, and re-written. CD-RWs, as opposed to CDs, require specialized readers that have sens ...

DVD-R DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('b ...

DVD-RW DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('b ...

, and blank VHS tapes) * VCRs * Home minisystems and home-theater-in-a-box systems *

Boombox A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered throu ...

es: Durabrand sells a variety of boomboxes. The offerings range from an AM/FM

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

with a single-deck cassette player to models featuring CD players and some models with

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...

-CD compatibility. * CD players (with and without ESP): Durabrand has variety in portable CD players. Ranging from the basic models without anti-skip protection to models with a built in radio tuner, MP3 CD compatibility, or come supplied with a car kit - consisting of a 12 Volt DC adapter and signal-to-cassette adapter. *

DVD Players A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to wa ...

: There are three different types of DVD player that Durabrand sells. One type is the component DVD player that is connects to a TV with A/V inputs (due to being a fire hazard, this product was recalled on August 20, 2009).{{Cite web , url=http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09335.html , title=Wal-Mart Announces Recall Expansion of Durabrand DVD Players Due to Fire Hazard , access-date=2010-10-07 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616102821/http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09335.html , archive-date=2011-06-16 , url-status=dead Another design is a clamshell design portable DVD player (similar to a

notebook computer A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

). And a car DVD player "system" that can have up to two screens mounted on rear seats. *

Televisions Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

: Durabrand used to sell monochrome portable televisions (sourced from Lenoxx Electronics Corporation) but now can only be purchased under the Lenoxx Sound name. Durabrand currently sells moderately sized color televisions (13-inch to 27-inch) manufactured by Funai Electric. * Home Appliances: Home appliances include vacuums, hand mixers, coffee makers, wine coolers and other general home equipment. *

Telephones A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

: Basic models, models with Caller ID and answering systems. * Car audio: speakers and sets * Computer speakers *

Coffee makers A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee gr ...

* Toasters * Two-way radios * Cordless Vacuum Cleaners

Brand identification

A large D is often found on the front of their products. Silver and black are the predominant colors used on their products.

Product manufacturers

* Most portable CD players and other audio equipment are currently sourced from distributor/supplier Lenoxx Sound. * Larger stereo systems are often sourced from Alco. * Televisions were sourced from Orion, currently sourced from Funai Electric. * Blank media currently sourced from

and Plasmon Data Systems. *Car audio currently sourced from Resonance. *Some DVD players are sourced from Initial Technology, but some models are also sourced from Lenoxx Sound and Venturer.

References

External links

*http://www.electronicadventure.us/durabrand.htm
Durabrand support site
Walmart brands Products introduced in 1999