Exploring the attractiveness of manufacturer brands and retailer own-brands in supermarket context

The purposes of this paper are to explore the effects of brand credibility, brand familiarity and brand image on brand attachment and brand attitude; and to test how a grocery product category and the perception of quality of own-label brands vs manufacturer brands moderate the inter-relationship of brand credibility, brand familiarity and brand image on brand attachment and brand attitude.

A survey is administered to a quota sample of Portuguese supermarket shoppers via a face-to-face personal interviewing method. The survey was conducted in Lisbon, Amadora and Sintra. The three municipalities were chosen for being the most densely populated and for having the largest number of grocery retailers in Portugal. From a total of 800 questionnaires collected using a face-to-face personal interviewing method in low-, medium- and high-peak shopping days, 756 were usable for data analysis. The respondents’ profile is according to the last Censos in Portugal conducted by the National Statistical Institute of Portugal, representing a quota sample.

Credibility and familiarity seem to be more important to enhance attachment in the case of the manufacturer brands and image for retailer own-brands. Brand image is more effective in attach customer in the case of manufacturer brands. Grocery store (supermarket) brand managers should be more effective in communicating the extension of the store image to the image of the products; they should develop a consistent and differentiating brand image.

This paper provides an important contribution to supermarket retail service by shedding light about how consumers’ overall evaluation and attachment to a brand are affected by the grocery product category and the perception of the quality of an own-label brand vs a manufacturer brand.