• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, July 12, 2017

What will three bucks get you? Anything and everything presently for sale at Brandless, a new ecommerce play backed by $50 million in venture financing and a whole lot of faith in the proposition that Millennials don’t really care what your heritage is as long as the price is right and the quality cuts the mustard.

“In the food category … it sells everything from canned goods to salad dressings and sauces to snacks and candies to coffee…. Housewares include measuring spoons, can openers, corkscrews and a selection of knives, while cleaning supplies include all-purpose cleaner and dish soap. And on the health and beauty front, Brandless sells everything from toothpaste and mouthwash to hand soap and body lotion,” reports Ryan Lawler for TechCrunch.

“The $3 price was chosen because the founders saw it as a middle point between value and quality, and they theorized that fixed pricing makes consumers feel at ease. They also said that Brandless is currently developing other lines at different fixed price points, but with the same value proposition as the ‘essentials’ line,” writes Dennis Green for Business Insider.

“Companies like Warby Parker and Casper have been upending their categories with direct-to-consumer products that slash prices by cutting out the middleman. Now, serial entrepreneurs Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler are trying to do the same for smaller purchases,” writes Amy Feldman for Forbes.

“It felt like modern consumption was really broken,” CEO Sharkey tells Feldman. Sharkey, 53, co-founded iVillage (later sold to NBC), has been president of parenting and pregnancy site BabyCenter, and was CEO of Sherpa Foundry. Chairman Leffler is the co-founder of skin-care company Yes To and school-supplies firm Yoobi.

“The business model: Cut out supermarkets and traditional marketing, funneling that money instead toward making products that can compete with pricier, name-brand counterparts,” writes Sharon Terlep for the Wall Street Journal.

“In doing so, Brandless aims to capitalize on a packaged-goods sector in upheaval, one that faces increasing competition among both high-end and discount brands as well as consumers who are doing more shopping online and demanding less-processed foods.”

“We feel like as a nation, we have become quite polarized, and we see all people as the same. We deeply believe in people being able to live their values,” Sharkey tells  NBC News’ Alyssa Newcomb. 

“Brandless is all about minimalism, so when shopping on the website, customers will notice they have just one choice when it comes to each item. The labeling follows the simple theme and also highlights some of the product's ‘values,’” Newcomb adds. “A bottle of toilet bowl cleaner includes values such as ‘EPA Safer Choice Certified, Nontoxic Formula and No Animal Testing.’ White cheddar Quinoa Puffs are listed as ‘gluten and dairy-free’ and with ‘no artificial flavors.’”

Mom-of-a-Millennial Kelly Faircloth asks herself “Why Does This No-Brand Brand Creep Me Out So Much?” in a piece for Jezebel.

“You would think that excessive orgy of branding — popup ads for Crest flashing before our ocular implants, that sort of thing — would be the most dystopian possible outcome for capitalism in the 21st century. But staring at that Brandless (TM) (don’t forget the TM) branded tube of toothpaste is somehow giving me the absolute willies, like I’ve woken up in a horrible video game version of reality that isn’t quite filled out around the edges,” she writes.

Not to mention that the all-natural toothpaste doesn’t contain fluoride.

“We're a different kind of brand but we are unapologetically a brand,” Sharkey tells Axios’ Ina Fried during a tour of the company's offices in San Francisco's Presidio.

“Sharkey says that consumers buying goods on store shelves are paying a 40% ‘brand tax’ and that going it their way can save money. Plus at $3 per item customers don't have to buy large quantities. But not all the products are an equally good deal as profit margins vary by product and the flat $9 shipping fee can add up on small orders. (Orders over $72 ship free.), Fried writes.”

Hey, with Costco conditioning us to the normalcy of having a half dozen bars of soap and/or tubes of toothpaste and/or vacuum-sealed packages of nonperishable processed Indian food in the cupboard, we can reach that $72 threshold in the flash of a few clicks.