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Private Label Strategy: How to Meet the Store Brand Challenge
By Nirmalya Kumar, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp
Published by Harvard Business School Press, pound 19.99
Laura Haynes, director of brand consultancy Appetite takes a bite out of Private Label Strategy and finds it leaves her with an interesting taste of the battle ahead for manufacturers
"We are now in a new era, where the retailers have power and have used it to transform the competitive brand landscape." So claims Private Label Strategy.
The title puts forward the hypothesis that there has been a 'private label revolution'. The book suggests that it is now retailers, not traditional brand owners, that have taken the lead in brand strategy and product segmentation and won an increasing share of respect and spend from consumers.
The authors' statement about being in a new era that has transformed the branding landscape is true enough. Anyone involved in the world of branding - indeed anyone who has walked into a major supermarket or DIY shop - can see that store own brands are taking up much more shelf space than ever before.
This book offers us some staggering supporting statistics - for example, the private-label percentage of revenues is predicted to rise to 22% of sales in Australasia, 27% of sales in North America and 30% of sales in Europe by 2010. And...