Cartography of Consumption: A Regional Study of Private Label Brands from Local Tastes to Global Trends

Abstract

There is a paradigm shift towards the purchase of private label brands as compared to the national brands. Successful differentiation of the private label brands has been achieved worldwide and further their impact in the seen the developed markets (Justin Beneke, 2010). The emergence of private label brands is quite evident from the fact that higher margins provided by the private label brands to the retailers as compared to national brands have resulted in higher sales push to the retailers and has augured enough for the growth of private label brands. The present study focused upon to identify the demographic profile influencing customer buying behavior towards private label brands over national brands. Various tools and techniques have been used to achieve these objectives of the study. To analyze and interpret the data cross sectional analysis and descriptive statistics has been utilized. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16) has been used to analyze the data for the present study. The demographic profile of the respondents has been analyzed based upon their region of living. This parameter has been cross tabulated with the awareness level of respondents about the private label brands considered for the study. The awareness level has been studied on five point likert scale (NTAW= Not at all aware, SUAW= Somewhat Unaware, CS= Can’t say, SAW= Somewhat aware and CAW= Completely Aware). As per the inferences derived after the data analysis, it was quite evident that private label brands are gaining importance with respect to customers as well as retailer. The majority of the respondents of Punjab and Chandigarh were aware about the private label brands whereas respondents belonging to Haryana were not at all aware about the private label brand. Private label brands can be lethal weapon which would serve as a point of distinction in the battles fought with other brands. Retailers will have a unique selling proposition by the means of private label brands.