WITH prices for many products at record highs and rising, shoppers are spending more time and money at discount bargain retailers.
Dollar stores have seen an uptick in sales, while major stores like Aldi and Walmart stay popular by offering cheap alternatives to name-brand goods.
YouTuber Vivian Tenorio, who runs the account Secret Life of Vivian, recently posted a video displaying some of her favorite Walmart duplicates.
On her page, which has more than 365,000 subscribers, Vivian regularly reviews products and offers advice on how to save money and get the best bang for your buck.
According to Vivian, a self-proclaimed "Ph.D. in knockoffs," Walmart also tends to create duplicates of best sellers, meaning many popular items have cheaper versions at Walmart.
Each product is cheaper than its name-brand alternative by up to 67% but still contains the same ingredients.
Vivian's first product was a shea shower scrub from Tree Hut, which sells at Walmart for $7.78.
Walmart, however, created its own shea scrub that sells for $5.26 under its Equate brand.
According to Vivian, the brand-name scrub used to cost around $5 around six months ago before inflation ticked prices up.
Both products contain 18 ounces of scrub, but the Equate container is more than 30% cheaper.
Equate also has a wide selection of scrub scents, all around the same price and cheaper than name brands.
A popular immune booster and vitamin supplement, Emergen-C typically retails for $4.97.
Walmart sells an alternative Equate supplement with the same active ingredients, including the 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C that the name brand is known for.
The Equate supplement costs $4.12, nearly 20% less than Emergen-C.
While the real saving only amounts to 85 cents, Vivian points out that Walmart's store brand again offers a frugal option.
Equate's line of over-the-counter drugs includes discounted duplicates of other brand-name medications like Tylenol and NyQuil.
The biggest price difference Vivian called out was on moisturizer.
Cetaphil, one of the leading skincare brands in the US according to Statista, charges $19.99 for a tub of its body moisturizing lotion.
Walmart offers a comparable product for just $6.47, or two-thirds the price of Cetaphil's lotion.
While the Cetaphil container looks larger, both jars contain 16 ounces of moisturizer.
Vivian did note that the Walmart cream seemed a bit more oily, while the Cetaphil lotion was silky and smooth.
For her final review, Vivian compared name-brand acne cream from PanOxyl to Walmart's store version.
The PanOxyl cream sells for $9.48, while the Equate brand acne wash goes for exactly a dollar less.
While she points out that Equate's cream is the most budget-friendly, Vivian recommends using CeraVe's acne product for the best overall results.
CeraVe's acne foaming cream cleanser costs $11.99, and all three products contain the same active ingredients.
Another Walmart shopper shared how to find massive discounts with your phone.
Read more on Walmart bargains and the exact day to shop to get them.
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