Abstract
Retail brands have become a strategic feature of the grocery industry. Appearance of private label on the grocery market generates new challenges for national brands and changes consumption patterns of consumers. The criteria on which consumers based their choices have been changed. This, therefore, impact on consumer’s behaviour purchase habits.
The purpose of the present study is to examine consumer’s behaviour purchase about private label and national brands and their actual perception toward these two kinds of brands. So the aim of this explanatory research is to give more insights into consumer’s buying motives between national and private label brands in food product category. We will illuminate differences in attributes preferences of manufacturer brand and private label buyer, explore if there is a significant differences between consumers’ evaluation on PLB and NB and analyse the relevant factors that’s cause the distinctness of consumers’ evaluation through qualitative and quantitative research. Survey, group interviews, gustative test are used to respond to our aim objectives.
Findings
Using 100 questionnaires conducted with customers at the Cora of Molsheim, the research found a high level of agreement toward past literatures suggesting that quality and price are two key elements in product choice. But the research also confirms that consumer’s perceptions of PLB and NB had involved, and gives new insights to the empirical studies on PLB and NB. However the research found that performance levels between PLB and manufacturer brands were not comparable. Quality, price and value for money were found to be important factors in the purchasing of food products. The use of a focus group and gustative test also allowed us respond to the research objective of this study on consumers’ perception of food products.
