Abstract
In regards to food consumption in Italy, consumers demonstrate a growing appreciation for Store Brands in their various forms: premium, mainstream and value. While retailing literature has largely been focused on the determinants behind the Store Brand’s success, little attention has been paid to a specific model able to describe and explain the main factors behind the creation of retail brand equity. Drawing on the literature that has analyzed the success of the Store Brand, this paper aims to assess the Italian consumer’s perception of the Store Brand. It is particularly interesting to study the consumers’ comparative evaluations between the two types of Store Brand segments: mainstream and premium. The variables which characterize a Store Brand’s Identity and those which enable it to offer a credible alternative to the leading industrial brands will be the focus of the study. They include: price advantage, perceived quality, level of innovation, ethics and sustainability. Data were collected from a quantitative survey based on a structured questionnaire. The final sample group was made up of approximately 600 Store Brand consumers loyal to the same retailer. Looking at the two Store Brand segments analyzed, results demonstrate that the consumers’ opinions differ in regards to price advantage, while they remain relatively uniform in regards to the other factors. These results lead to important managerial implications as they highlight how important it is to qualify a Store Brand’s distinctive factors, implement communication policies and to understand the final consumers’ expectations in order to increase its overall value.
Highlights
In marketing literature, the scientific and managerial debate over the topics of branding and the determinants that enable a brand to create and defend value is alive and well
Over the past twenty-five years, a systematic and meaningful contribution to this subject has been made by Aaker (1991, 1996, 2004), and by Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) who, in several articles, have demonstrated how a brand represents a fundamental company asset, able to qualify and identify value generated by a product or service. Another relevant contribution to branding studies has been made by Keller (1993, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001) who, in the framework of a broad systematic design, has developed the Customer Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE)
It is the leading retailer in the Italian distribution market, characterized by both a high rate of SB penetration and the presence of a premium SB segment well-known to its customers since it has been offered as part of the assortment for several years’ time
Summary
The scientific and managerial debate over the topics of branding and the determinants that enable a brand to create and defend value is alive and well. Over the past twenty-five years, a systematic and meaningful contribution to this subject has been made by Aaker (1991, 1996, 2004), and by Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) who, in several articles, have demonstrated how a brand represents a fundamental company asset, able to qualify and identify value generated by a product or service. Another relevant contribution to branding studies has been made by Keller (1993, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001) who, in the framework of a broad systematic design, has developed the Customer Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE). Due to its growing success in the majority of developed markets (Western Europe and North America), it is interesting to study whether (and how) Keller’s brand equity model (Keller, 1998) can be applied (or adapted) to the SB and which are the “specific” factors that could have a greater impact on the creation of a loyal relationship with the final consumer
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