What are white-label products in manufacturing?

White-label products are products that get out of the factory without a brand.

If you go to wholesale markets in China, you can find many products with no brand for a minimal price. You can then resell them directly or talk to the factory to add your own brand.

An example is the mobile phone brand Wiko. Two French guys went to Shenzhen and discovered that they could source very cheap white label mobiles. Back then, the French market lacked of middle entry phones. They bought the no-brand phones and just rebranded them under the name Wiko. Three years later, they were the second most sold items in France. Today, they are leading in many different countries in Africa and Middle East as well.

The funny part of this story is that the company were ultimately bought by the phone manufacturer. So the factory went from producing whitelabel to owning its own successful brand. A good example that there is many way to develop products and brands.

This text was originally published in quora.