Content area
Full text
Introduction
Private label brands (PLBs), also referred to as “store brands”, are brands owned by a retailer or wholesaler (Hyman et al., 2010). With margins as high as 20 per cent in the fast moving consumer goods category and 40 per cent in apparel, PLBs play a dominant role in several European markets as well as Canada (Nielson’s Report, 2014). Over the last decade, the growth of PLBs in India has coincided with the growth of modern retail stores. Organized retail in India is undergoing a remarkable transformation from traditional methods to modern stores. Currently, organized retail in India represents 10 per cent of the total retail market, which is projected to reach US$ 180 billion by 2020 (BCG Retail Report, 2015). Private label’s (PL) share of modern retail in India accounts for about 7 per cent of the total retail market and is growing annually. It is expected that India’s e-commerce market will also grow rapidly, and PLB retailers see potential in the online space (Anand, 2015).
PLBs have been widely discussed and documented in both practitioner and academic-oriented studies (Richardson et al., 1996; Batra and Sinha, 2000; Sprott and Shimp, 2004; Sethuraman and Gielens, 2014). Existing PLB literature can be broadly classified as consumer, retailer, market, and manufacturer focused (Hyman et al., 2010). An extensive review of the literature highlights a gap in the research between PLB naming/architecture, packaging, pricing, and brand imitation strategies being pursued by retailers (Hyman et al., 2010). While PLB as a concept has been studied in developed economies (particularly in the UK, major parts of Europe, and the USA), this is not the case in emerging economies such as India (Saraswat et al., 2010; Diallo, 2012). Previous studies in the Indian PLB context have primarily examined consumer-related factors, such as demographics and psychographics, that influence consumers’ intent to purchase PLBs (Abhishek, 2014; Mishra, 2014). Only one study (Saraswat et al., 2010) has considered retailer-related factors, such as store image. None of the previous studies consider brand architecture strategies that have been adopted by the Indian retailers that sell PLBs. Therefore, we aim to adopt a more comprehensive approach in understanding Indian consumer perceptions related to the consumption of PLBs. Hence, the specific...