Price or Quality? Comparing Consumers’ Perceptions of Competing Private Labels – An Illustrative Analysis in Food Retailing

Private labels, i.e. products that are produced and marketed by retailers themselves, are today an important vehicle for food retailers’ strategic positioning – both in terms of price and quality image. The question of how private labels can deliver and differentiate through these images is an important element in the overall retail offering. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify and explore how consumers’ perceptions of national private label brands differ in terms of price and quality images. To address this, we focus on two competing private labels and identify how consumers perceive their differences. As a result, we explore these differences along two dimensions, price image and quality image, and consequently, identify and discuss three varying consumer groups. Our illustrative analysis contributes to prior literature especially by enriching qualitative understanding of price and quality perceptions of private labels and extending analytical focus from manufacturer vs. private label toward comparing two private labels instead.