Consumer attitudes towards a European retailer's private brand food products: an integrated model of Taiwanese consumers

Abstract

Private brands play an important strategic role for European food retailers entering Asian grocery markets. However, little scholarly research has examined factors influencing Asian consumers' selection of private brand (PB) food products. This paper proposes a model that integrates four key variables measuring consumer characteristics (price consciousness, perceived PB quality, perceived PB risk and familiarity with PB) that influence PB attitude and purchase intention in Taiwan. Two surveys generated 409 useable questionnaires (222 from on-line survey and 187 from face-to-face interviews). The findings reveal that Taiwanese consumers are more concerned about the quality than the price of these European retailers' PB. When consumers are more familiar with the retailer's PB, they have more confidence in evaluating product quality, reducing perceived risk and enhancing price consciousness. Theses findings suggest that retailers should increase various promotional activities, such as offering free samples or tasting at the point of sale, to increase consumers' familiarity with their PB products.