The Future of Private Labels: Towards a Smart Private Label Strategy

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.     

Brand Analyses of U.S. Global and Local Brands in India: The Case of Levi's

ABSTRACT

This study investigates differences between U.S. global and local brands in the Indian market. Attitudes toward American products and the brand equity of U.S. global and local casual apparel brand in the Indian market are examined. It is postulated that global and local brand influence brand equity, which is composed of brand image, brand awareness, emotional value, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and purchase intention. A total of 411 college students in India participated in the survey. Using repeated measures ANOVA, this study finds that Indian consumers perceive global and local brands differently based on brand equity.     

Ad Element Liking and Its Relationship to Overall Ad Liking

Abstract

This study explored differences in affective response content across three cultures and the role of these responses in predicting overall advertising liking. Based on a field survey, subjects from England, Norway and Spain evaluated cosmetic ads on a series of liking scales. Ad content was coded into elements reflecting product- or ad-related affect based on existing theory on ad evaluation criteria and on the theory of central and peripheral routes to persuasion. This study revealed that it might be difficult to achieve sameness in likeability even for international brands and beauty types. However, quite consistently across cultures, the findings suggest that the same affective processes along a peripheral route influence overall liking across cultures. Implications are drawn for future practice and research.     

Ample Consumption Period Available Until Use-by Dates: A Potential Marketing Position for Store Brands

SUMMARY

Store brands, when moving upscale, inevitably relinquish their value for money appeal and therefore require some quality dimension to compete. This article is proposing that the promise of “generous” use-by dates as a surrogate for quality could be considered as a positioning plank to promote store brands as alternatives to manufactured brands. Logit analysis is employed to explain shoppers' perceptions and responses to use-by dates, of products that they regularly buy, and of alternative products that they have never bought before if the use-by dates of their regular items are perceived to be too short.     

Competitive advantage,private-label brands,and category profitability

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of private-label resources possessed by a supermarket retailer. Our study examines whether or not private-label products can help in the overall enhancement of product category performance. We examine the performance of a supermarket retailer in the Northeast United States that operates over 100 stores and generates a total yearly sales volume in excess of $3 billion. Data of this nature is difficult to obtain for research purposes, and this proved to be very valuable. Data obtained from the internal financial database of the supermarket was used and generated from point-of-sale information. We then developed a research model from the literature review and used structural equation modelling to analyse the data. The findings of this study indicate that a change in category private-label sales penetration and category market share had little impact on category profitability. The major implication for retailers is the necessity for category managers to focus on all brands within their respective categories and not over-emphasise a private-label brand focus.     

The Impact of Familiarity and Perceived Trustworthiness and Influence on Donations to Nonprofits: An Unaided Recall Study

What affects donations? Is it all in “the ask,” or does brand image matter? In the nonprofit brands literature perceived trustworthiness and influence of the organization are important factors that increase constituents’ willingness to support an organization. We examined the association between a nonprofit organization’s familiarity, trustworthiness, and influence and the propensity of donations it receives. To this end, we used a questionnaire on attitudes toward nonprofit organizations and unaided recall of nonprofit organizations collected from a nationally representative sample. The attitudes data revealed that perceptions of nonprofits’ effectiveness and trustworthiness in Israel are not particularly positive. A multivariate fractional polynomial regression on the unaided recall results shows that while familiarity and perceived effectiveness are positively associated with the propensity of donations to nonprofit organizations, trustworthiness is not. We explain this surprising result by changes in Israeli social policy, political culture, and trust in institutions. We suggest different efforts that organizations can make to enhance their brand image and consequently increase donations.     

Legitimately luxurious: Creating authentic luxury brands

In recent years, greater disparities in incomes and growth in wealthy consumers have fueled new opportunities in luxury markets. As firms launched luxury brands, some have thrived as others stumbled. One important difference between those who succeed and those who struggle, we suggest, is brand authenticity. Scholars have studied authenticity extensively, and research has isolated different sources of authenticity. How firms draw on these sources to create legitimate luxury brands has, however, received surprisingly little attention. In this article, we discuss the research on the sources of brand authenticity, and we explore how brands rely on those sources to craft authentic luxury brands. Using the examples of Canada Goose and Shinola, we illustrate how one firm drew on multiple sources of authenticity and, through the symbolism of its actions, successfully created an authentic luxury brand. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for other firms seeking to enter the luxury market.     

国际环境新趋势对跨国品牌生态系统演化的影响分析

文章就全球金融危机爆发以来世界的经济与政治环境发生的一系列的变化进行了分析,就其中呈现出的新特点与新趋势包括:品牌营销进入了web3.0的变革时代、金融帝国主义与新自由主义遇到困境、文化本土化与全球化驱动以及认知盈余与时间过剩等内容进行了分析,提出了如何在新趋势下保持跨国品牌生态系统的发展的建议。     

Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized the way retailers create strategies for engaging customers in making purchase decisions. Phygital is a new-age transformative form of omnichannel retailing that emphasizes combining the physical and digital elements, with a particular focus on the human touch to satisfy social and symbolic consumer needs. Extant research has not fully addressed the role of phygital in luxury fashion retail. We explore the research question regarding how human interactions with experienced salespeople add value to the phygital experience. In doing so, we contribute to the luxury marketing literature by addressing the research gap by elucidating the role of phygital functionality in enhancing rapport building, social engagement, and developing trust and commitment, which results in a seamless customer experience, along with enhanced loyalty and patronage. Through 18 in-depth qualitative research interviews conducted with luxury retail managers and senior retail leaders, we provide guidelines to managers and practitioners at retail firms, to create actionable growth-oriented strategies focused on leveraging phygital capabilities.     

Branding Strategies of Born Globals

Born global companies have now been studied for a decade. However, little has been written specifically about the challenges facing born globals in their branding endeavours. This research examines the branding strategies of 30 Finnish small and medium-sized born globals. The experience, qualities and global orientation of the founder and the top management team are found important for the success of the born globals in their branding achievements. A key argument is that business-to-business and business-to-consumer born globals differ as to their branding strategies and approaches. The analysis reveals a major imperative; branding strategies are dynamic and depend on the globalisation degree.