Private label supplier disclosureimplications for manufacturers, retailers and consumers

Abstract

PL supplier disclosure is becoming increasingly significant in recent years. Thanks to the Internet, consumers can easily know the supplier identity of their favorite PLs trough consumer forums, web pages, etc. Furthermore, some retailers use the disclosure as a strategy to differentiate from its competitors, even sometimes showing NB's logo on PL packaging. Drawing on signaling theory, the objective of this thesis is to address the implications of PL supplier disclosure, which can be divided into three minor objectives: effects on NB perceptions, effects on PL perceptions and effects on the retailer perceptions. The results obtained from subsequent experiments using student and consumer samples on food product categories, suggest PL supplier disclosure affects consumer perceptions about NBs, PLs and retailers. And more importantly, brand and retailer image play a major role in determining the PL supplier disclosure effects. In the first place, due to supplier disclosure, the perceived quality, image and loyalty intention of a higher image NB will be affected negatively if supplies a high image PL. These effects will disappear for a lower image NB, but the NB will be perceived as more expensive. Secondly, consumers will perceive the image of the retailer as higher if it starts from a low image positioning. Moreover, if the NB has a high image, then a retailer with a lower image positioning will be perceived as more expensive. Finally, considering the PL tier, when a high image NB supplies a premium PL, the NB’s quality and image will improve, increasing the NB-premium PL differentials. In contrast, if the PL features a standard positioning, NB-PL differentials will be lower. This thesis contributes to previous PL supplier disclosure literature in several ways. First, it sets light on the lack of consensus about the effects of supplier revelation on NB perceptions. Second, it expands PL supplier disclosure knowledge from standard PLs to premium PLs. Third, it explores the effects of disclosing a dual supplier on retailer’s perceptions, a research gap that, to the best of our knowledge, only one author has studied previously. Finally, no previous literature has studied the moderating effects of brand image positioning. Moreover, the results obtained in this thesis have important implications for all the agents involved: manufacturers, retailers and consumers.