British Food Journal

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the relative importance of brand-packaging, price and taste in the formation of brand preference for manufacturer and store brands in food product categories.

Design/methodology/approach – The authors first perform a blind taste test of the product using three brands (two manufacturer brands and one store brand) in two categories with differentiated characteristics (cola drinks and olives stuffed with anchovies). They then use conjoint analysis to analyze the influence of the intrinsic cue (taste) and the extrinsic cues (price and brand-packaging) on consumers' preference for manufacturer and store brands. Finally, after telling the consumers which taste belongs to each brand, the authors study the influence of the extrinsic cues on the consumers' quality evaluations of the real stimuli.

Findings – The results show that not knowing the brand to which the taste tested belongs, leads consumers in general to order their preferences fundamentally by taste. However, the results differ by product category and consumer segment analyzed. Consumers who evaluate the taste of store brands as better change their preferences more when they know which brand belongs to which taste. Further, the change in preference when consumers know the brand-taste correspondence is clearly greater in the most differentiated category.

Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of this research derive from the factors conditioning the information. A greater number of categories and attributes would enrich the information. In addition, it would be useful to analyze more than one store brand.

Practical implications – The results obtained have interesting implications for manufacturers and retailers concerning management of the brands in their product portfolio and management of their relationships in the distribution channel.

Originality/value – The main contribution of this paper lies in the work methodology used. The paper offers a comprehensive analysis of how the relative importance of brand-packaging, price and taste affect brand preference for manufacturer and store brands. The study also contributes evidence on how the consumer's knowledge of the correspondence between brand and taste can change his or her brand preferences, an issue of great interest for manufacturers and distributors in managing their product portfolios.