Modern day store brands (SB) or private labels (PL), now also popularly called private brands, are brands generally owned and marketed by retailers. They have been active on the market for about 70 ...years. Over this time span, these brands have evolved from generic, cheap, low-quality economy or budget private labels to lower-priced-than-national brand but acceptable-quality value or standard private labels. Over time, retailers extended the value proposition to the consumer segment seeking higher quality by offering premium private labels. This strategy, called the tiered-private label, comprises offering economy PL to the price-sensitive but not quality sensitive consumers, standard PL to mainstream consumers seeking acceptable quality at lower prices, and premium PL to the quality-sensitive segment seeking value. Over the last 40 years (1980–2020), these versions of private labels have witnessed substantial growth around the world, though the growth is said to be tapering in recent times.
As retailers chart the future strategy for their private labels in 2020 and beyond, a pertinent question they face is: Should they continue to offer value or even tiered PL with the same formula that brought them success in the past, or should they morph and adopt new strategies in keeping with current market trends? We support adopting a new strategy that we call the smart PL strategy. The value PL strategy and its manifestation as the tiered PL strategy cater to different consumer segments but focus primarily on price and quality as attributes of choice. In the current marketplace, consumers care not only about price and quality, but also about sustainability, ethics, social responsibility, image, so forth, perhaps more so than earlier generations. They are also more tech-savvy in using digital tools for search and purchase. Retailers, on their part, are now endowed with rich, extensive data that they can tap into to understand customers’ diverse needs, and they are able to harness technology for developing the right product and communication. Thus, the smart PL strategy is a strategy by which retailers can leverage data and technology to market private labels that meet diverse customer needs and achieve greater retail differentiation, store loyalty, margins, and profits. This thought piece provides a road map for developing such a smart PL strategy and directions for future research.
This study explores how positioning a brand as global and/or local ¡conic can moderate the impact of advertising frequency (AF) on brand attitudes in an emerging market context. We argue that brands ...may be seen as the source of an advertisement and that the positioning of a brand can thus enhance source attractiveness, and/or source credibility, which in turn facilitate the impact of AF on brand attitudes. Our results support that both a global and a local iconic positioning enhance the AF-brand ¡mage relationship, but they do not have an effect on the AF-brand quality relationship. Additionally, we examine whether source attractiveness and source credibility mediate these moderation effects and find that only source attractiveness is a significant mediator. Additionally, we investigate whether a hybrid positioning strategy (i.e., positioning as both global and local iconic) is beneficial. Results indicate that a separate positioning (i.e., global or local iconic) is a better strategy to increase the attractiveness of the advertising source and in turn facilitate the effect of advertising frequency to create brand image.
This research is motivated by the growing negative consumer sentiment, perceptions and behaviors toward brands, and the increasing need for firms to develop actionable strategies to address this ...phenomenon. By recognizing the paucity of research on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) for unliked brands, the aim of this research is to illuminate the CBBE deconstruction and restoration process for consumers’ unfavorable brands. Analyzing relevant consumer survey data by means of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies self-brand connection and partner quality as the key links for the deconstruction and restoration of CBBE respectively. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings and directions for future research.
This study explores the links between the drivers of love towards traditional luxury brands and the key outcomes of these. In more detail, we use the stimulus - organism - response (S-O-R) as an ...overarching framework to theorise and empirically test relationships between brand uniqueness, hedonism, brand prestige and symbolism (stimuli); brand love (organism); and purchase intention, positive word-of-mouth, and attitudinal brand loyalty (response). We also evaluate the mediating role of brand prestige, brand symbolism and brand love. The results of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) conducted on survey data from Australian consumers indicate that only hedonism drives brand prestige and symbolism. Brand prestige and symbolism then jointly shape brand love for traditional luxury, ultimately impacting all response variables. Besides advancing existing research on luxury brand love, the results also contribute to practice, illustrating the strategies managers of traditional luxury brands can use to obtain a competitive edge.
This study examines the effects of intangible extrinsic cues on consumer quality perception and purchase intention of private brands. We find that store image and product signatureness enhance ...quality perception and purchase intention of private brands while quality variation reduces both outcomes. All effects of the three extrinsic cues on purchase intention are partially mediated by quality perception. In addition, consumer value consciousness strengthens the relationship between quality perception and purchase intention of private brands.
Overstock reduction methods offer important marketing signals that may affect consumer brand perceptions. In particular, some overstock reduction methods create disposal-based scarcity, that is, ...product scarcity resulting from reductions of unsold stock. Three experimental studies reveal distinct effects of incineration, which completely destroys the product, compared with methods that are less destructive, such as recycling, donating, or discounting through factory outlets. Achieving disposal scarcity through destruction ultimately damages consumer brand evaluations. In contrast, recycling, donating, and discounting methods, along with indicating a lack of brand overstock, can enhance brand evaluations. Communicating sold-out stock does not translate into such beneficial effects. These varied effects of different overstock reduction methods are mediated by perceptions of exclusivity, popularity, and wastefulness. Furthermore, the mediating effect of perceived wastefulness in the link between overstock reduction methods and brand evaluations is moderated by self–brand connection but not by perceived brand luxuriousness. This article thus integrates literature on scarcity, branding, wastefulness, and disposal behavior to identify a distinct type of scarcity and the conditions in which it has more positive or negative effects on brand perceptions and evaluations.
This work is based on the concept of Brand Equity in the luxury sector. It analyzes the relationships between Awareness, Image and Loyaty, including Engagement in its relationship with commented ...variables. A theoretical model was specified and tested by Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Hypothesis have been tested running a structural equations model. Each hypothesis has resulted to be significant. The model had a good fit to the data. The conclusions obtained from the analysis of the data allow us to describe the effects that occur between the variables, being important for their management so that managers of the luxury companies can increase the value of their brands.
Brands have come under the spotlight for unethical behaviour, resulting in decreased brand trust. Breakdowns in trust occur when the actions of brands differ from the promises and values communicated ...by them. Brand authenticity is considered to have a positive effect on brand trust. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of brand authenticity in the development of brand trust. The target population for the study was customers of airline brands in South Africa with a sample size of 355 responses. Our results show the brand authenticity dimensions. Brand authenticity does have a direct impact on brand trust, and warmth and competence partially mediate the relationship between brand authenticity and brand trust. These findings have important implications for managers. To succeed, consumers have to trust their brands, and brands that are viewed by them as such are likely to be more successful than those that are not.
This paper integrates country-of-origin and global/local branding literatures to investigate how country- and brand-specific factors influence consumer preferences. Drawing from the stereotype ...content model (SCM) in social psychology, it operationalizes country perceptions by means of warmth and competence judgments and juxtaposes them with consumers' perceptions of brand globalness and localness to predict brand attitudes and subsequent purchase intentions. An empirical study involving a series of well-known brands from different countries and product categories shows that (a) the SCM can effectively capture country-of-origin effects, (b) judgments of competence impact consumer preferences above and beyond the positive effects of brand globalness and localness, and (c) country stereotypes (particularly the dimension of warmth) interact with perceptions of brand globalness in determining brand attitude, whereas perceived brand localness has an independent effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research identified.
The literature that focuses on acquisitions from the consumer perspective has generally neglected the brand strategy of cross-border acquisitions in an emerging market by a developed country brand. ...However, research in this field appears necessary, considering the high failure rate of M&As, the common practice of Western/global companies of augmenting their brand portfolio through local acquisitions, and the sensitivity of emerging market consumers to foreign brands. The present study is an initial attempt to understand the loyalty of consumers toward the acquired brands. Moreover, we investigate how such an acquisition affects the relationship between quality and loyalty, as well as between price and loyalty. For fast-moving consumer goods brands in China, the findings indicate that from a customer’s perspective acquiring a local brand is not an advisable strategy for foreign brand conglomerates, because such an international takeover may decrease consumer loyalty. Additionally, consumers tend to expect higher quality after the takeover but may not want to pay more for the quality increase.
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