Strategic management of store brands: an analysis from the manufacturer's perspective

Purpose - The main aim of this research is to provide empirical analyses about the store brand management by manufacturers and retailers from the manufacturer's perspective, in the current context, which is one of intense competition between manufacturer and store brands. Particularly, this research pursues to analyse the profile of store brand manufacturers, their perceptions about the retail management of these brands and their own product management of the same.Design methodology approach - A postal survey was carried out directed at manufacturing business units of mass consumer products in Spain. Multivariate techniques are used in the information analysis such as contingency tables, variance and principal component analysis.Findings - The results highlight the differences between manufacturers and non-manufacturers of store brands in their competitive position and in the type of manufactured product; the consensus of both groups regarding the perception of favourable merchandising for store brands; the greater number of production and market motivations versus the relational motivations in the manufacture of store brands; the no convenience of producing store brands for leading manufacturers, and the slight differences in the manufacturing process between manufacturer and store brands.Research limitations implications - The main limitation of this research is the fact that only the manufacturers' perceptions have been considered. It would be beneficial in future research to consider the opinion of retailers about their own management of these brands.Originality value - The main value of the paper is the empirical analyse of the store brand management from the manufacturer's perspective. This subject has been analysed from a general and basically theoretical perspective until now.