Replacing a delisted brand with premium and standard private labels

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of brand preference and type of shopping trip on the relationship between replacing a delisted national brand (NB) with a retailer’s private label (PL) brand (premium vs standard) and private label switching (PLS), that is switching from NB to PL.Design/methodology/approachInside a major French retail chain store, an experiment with 1,392 NB buyers tested the impact of replacing NB with PL on PLS.FindingsResults stress the positive contribution of PL replacements after NB delisting on buyers’ switching behaviour at different brand preference levels and shopping trip types. A main-choice NB for a major trip shopping benefits a PLS to premium PL. However, when a fill-in shopper looks for a secondary brand, competition between PL standard and NB may not be as weak as suggested in earlier studies.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this study is that respondents reported their purchases instead of actually buying.Practical implicationsThis study highlights that the retailers that delist some NB brands in the category should adopt a strategy either to develop premium or standard PLs, depending on consumers’ brand preference and shopping trip type.Social implicationsDelisting is an opportunity to question the NB product competitiveness towards PL.Originality/valueThe study is based on actual delisting and replacement, combined with a large sample, unlike previous studies. Moreover, it bridges two important areas of research: conflict in marketing channels and PL introduction in retailers’ assortment decisions.