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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

Pu b l i s h ed b y : S o u th As i a n Aca d e m i c Re s ea r ch J o u rn a l s

SAJMMR:
South Asian Journal of Marketing & Management Research AN ANALYSIS ON CONSUMERS INTENTION OF BUYING PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS WITHIN FOOD AND GROCERY RETAIL SECTOR A STUDY IN CHENNAI REGION
R.SATHYA*; DR.S.SHEELA RANI** *External Ph.D Research Scholar, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore - 46, Tamil Nadu, India. **Associate Professor, New College Institute of Management, Chennai 600014, Tamil Nadu, India. ABSTRACT The foray of private labels in Grocery and Food retail Sector is very prominent making market to have the product enjoy different levels of consumers acceptance and perceived risk and requires attention with respect to the different elements of the marketing mix. Grocery and Food retailers have popularized their private labels which have attracted shoppers and thus have created keen interest in making purchase decision of these brands. The intention of consumers keeps on changing with the set of characteristics or attributes that consumers consider important. Consumers then use these attributes in deciding which brands cater to their particular need. Consumer intention of buying private label is influenced by consumer attitudes towards these products. Attitude is a scale, and brands move up, down and even off that scale with and without a vigilant brand management strategy. Pricing, promotional deals and product availability all have tremendous impact on the position of your brand in the consumers choice set. The brands potential can only be fulfilled by continually reinforcing its perceived quality, up market identity and relevance to the consumer. The same branding activities that drive awareness also drive preference. And, while awareness alone will not sustain intention to buy, it will improve the brands potential for building and maintaining preference. This paper explores factors affecting consumers intention to buy private label Grocery and food retail sector brands, and consumers buying decision process inducing them in South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

their purchase decision, factors that the customers look in for preferring private label grocery and food items, consumer loyalty and shopping behavior and thereby add to retail brand equity. KEYWORDS: Private Labels, Intention, Perceived Quality, Shopping Behavior and Loyalty. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Retail and Real estate are the two booming sectors of India in the present time. Retail one of the Indias upcoming industries, presently emerged as the most dynamic and fast paced industries of recent times with several players entering the market. One of the routes taken up by the Indian retailers to succeed in the retail business is to focus on private label brands. Private labels are important components of retail branding. Retail branding strategies typically consists of the store name brands, Retailer-controlled name brands, Licensed names and Generics. Private label brands, also known as store brands, refer to those brands that are owned by, and sold through, a specific chain of stores. The increasing usage of private brands of grocery products reflects a major shift in the product mix offered by retailers. Today, some of the most successful corporate brands in the world are retail brands. These retailers make large investments to build brand image and brand equity. One part of this branding strategy is to launch store brands. The importance of store brands in fast moving consumer goods marketing has increased recently. INDIAL RETAIL INDUSTRY India is witnessing an unprecedented consumption boom. The economy is growing between 7 and 8 percent and the resulting improvement in income dynamics along with factors like favorable demographics and growth in aspirational consumption are the drivers. Retailing in India is currently estimated to be USD 200 billion, of which organized retailing (i.e. modern trade) makes up 3 percent or USD 6.4 billion. Organized Retail is expected to grow at 25-30 percent p.a., and is projected to attain USD 23 billion by 2010. At these levels, organized retail would constitute up to 9 percent of overall retail sales. There are multiple factors driving Indian retail growth. With roughly 60 percent of the total population below 30 years of age, favorable demographics are expected to drive consumption across categories. The purchasing power of a young consuming middle class has been talked of considerably since the time of economic liberalization in 1991. However, it is only today that we are witnessing the spending power associated with this consumer segment. India has been rather slow in joining the Organized Retail Revolution that was rapidly transforming the economies in the other Asian Tigers. Though with a population of a billion and a middle class population of over 400 millions organized retailing (in the form of food retail chains) is still in its beginning in the Country. This was largely due to the excellent food retailing system that was established by the neighborhood Kirana stores that continue to meet with all the requirements of daily needs without the convenience of the shopping as provided by the retail South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

chains; and also due to the highly fragmented food supply chain that is cloaked with several intermediaries (from farm-processor-distributor-retailer) resulting in huge value loss and high costs. This supplemented with lack of developed food processing industry kept the organized chains out of the market place. The correction process is now underway. Big daddies of Indian corporate sectors are now jumping to establish the retail chains across the country. The systems are being established for effective Business-to-Business (farmer-processor, processor-retailer) solutions thereby leveraging the core competence of each player in the supply chain. PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS IN INDIA Organized retailing is spreading and making its presence felt in different parts of the country. With the entry of very large corporate houses like Reliance Fresh, Vishal, AV Birla group, Bharati Walmart joint venture and the existing Biz Bazar, Spencer, Food Mart are also in large scale expansions across the country, the spread of the organized retail is going to reach soon the small populations towns of 1 lac to 5 lacs after covering all big, medium and small cities. The trend in grocery retailing, however, has stated with a growth concentration in the South. Though there were traditional family owned retail chains in South India such as Nilgiri's as early as 1904, the retail revolution happened with various major business houses foraying into the starting of chains of food retail outlets in South India with focus on Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore markets, preliminarily. In the Indian context, a countrywide chain in food retailing has been pioneered by Big Bazar and Reliance fresh only. A large degree of private label growth is due to the consolidation and expansion of the retail food industry. Over time, as retail chains have expanded, they have moved from being price takers to price setters, thereby shifting power from manufacturers to retailers. The increase in private label products among formats and across countries has allowed retailers to focus on differing consumer demands around the world. It is increasingly evident that private label retailers are constantly expanding product selection to appeal to the greatest consumer segments. For example, private labels stock keeping units (SKUs) have increased eleven-fold globally from 2004 to 2008, finally reaching 9,500 during 2008 to 2009. The expansion of retailers across countries and the increase of private label products across different store formats are not only increasing sales and volume of private label products, but are creating new opportunities to launch innovative, healthy and convenientlypackaged products to suit different consumers needs. Range in India is narrow across categories compared with developed markets. A leading hypermarket would have 8,000 to 10,000 SKUs. Consumer companies have traditionally focused on fewer SKUs due to lower affordability and fragmented retail. In future shoppers will increasingly demand more range of products and retailers will use this as a source of differentiation. Private labels or store brands can reduce entry prices and raise margin: highvalue private-label manufacturing contract increase retailers bargaining power with vendors and attract more shoppers owing to lower prices.

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

FIGURE 1: SNAPSHOT OF RETAILERS DEPTH OF PRIVATE LABELING (2009) Source: Images Retail Report 2009, quoted in KPMGs Indian Retail: Time to change Lanes Report THEORETICAL FRAME WORK MEANING OF PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS Private brands have been given many names over the years including distributor brand, retail brand, private label, store brand, own label, and own brand. Whichever term is used, a private brand refers to a brand owned by a retailer (a marketing chain or any other typical retail structure) or by a wholesale distributor (who owns the right to sell the brand exclusively in its own retail outlets). Such private brands were originally limited to large foodstore chains (Burt, 2000). In response to the severe economic conditions that beset the global market in the 1970s, many marketers utilized private brands effectively to penetrate numerous categories of goods that had previously been controlled by national brand manufacturers. During the 1990s, in many developed nations, private brands became premium brands that matched or surpassed the quality of national brands (Ghose and Lowengart, 2001). Private brands made a transition from being a marketing idea for selling low-priced goods to being a South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

marketing idea that offered additional value in service and quality (Davies, 1990). Many service companies recognized the potential of selling private brands in addition to the traditional services they provided, and began marketing them as part of their business. For example, restaurants began selling mineral water and wine under their own brand names, hair salons launched a range of products featuring the name of the salons and the signature of their best hairstylists, and hotels offered a broad range of products (foods, publications, toiletries, and so on) bearing the hotels names. EVOLUTION OF PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS With continued economic expansion and retail growth, India is set to become US $ 450 billion retail market by 2015, comparable in size to Italy (US$ 462 billion) and much larger than Brazil (US$ 258 billion today). Whats more, India is perhaps the last virgin BRIC market for organized retailers. The game here has just begun, with organized retailer accounting here for just 5 percent of todays market and likely to expand anywhere between 14 to 18 percent by 2015. By that year, it is expected 65 million household will patronize organized retail, amounting to over 300 million shoppers. Several retailers in India are focusing on private labels in fresh foods, home products, apparels, cosmetics and appliances. India is a highly unbranded market. In most categories branded players hold 10 percent of the total market, compared to 40 to 60 percent in other markets. This is a unique phenomenon suggesting that the India brands of tomorrow will be retailer brands. Private label brands continue to do well in the grocery sector as families remain focused on lowcost products. In 2008, private label gained popularity due to escalating concern over the economy and rising food prices. In spite of prices stabilizing in 2009, consumers have continued to purchase lower-cost items. Private label becoming more acceptable to the mainstream; a trend that we anticipate will linger. Studies show that 8 out of 10 consumers are driven mainly by price, which is reflected in the scrutinizing of brands in contrast to private label for the best deal and seeking sales offering the lowest priced. Brands, however, are not necessarily giving up market share easily and are ready to do battle. They continue to lead in innovation and value and should not be underestimated. Meanwhile, data shows that heavy buyers, a relatively small group of consumers, constitute the bulk of private label sales (about 62 percent). This provides evidence that there are many more opportunities to reach consumers who are subject to brand influence. Manufacturers, who deliver on the brand promise, while also offering coupons, can salvage migrating customers. PRIVATE LABELS INCREASING SIGNIFICANCE A key strategy adopted globally and increasingly in India by retailers is the use of private labels or store brands. Globally private labels contribute to 17 percent of retail sales and are growing at 5 percent an annum3. Private labels provide a higher margin to the retailers while simultaneously offering lower prices to consumers. There is an increasing acceptance for private labels in India. A recent survey by AC Nielsen4 has identified that 56 percent of their survey respondents in India consider private labels to be good alternatives to manufacturer brands. In India, private label penetration is on the rise. Some of the major food & grocery retailers average between 20 percent to 30 percent private label penetration with the highest penetration of about 50 percent South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

today. In clothing and apparel, some retailers have as much as 65 percent of the sales coming from private labels. While private label penetration is on the rise, it is largely in the areas of groceries, home care, clothing and apparels. Internationally, private labels are available in many more categories including healthcare, cosmetics, beverages, etc. This expansion would take place in India as well. The rapid growth of Indian retailers in the coming years would provide the necessary scale for many to launch an active private label programmed. In areas like consumer durables, the rapid development of Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) would facilitate easy introduction of private labels soon. Going forward, in addition to managing the supply chain, Indian retailers would have to augment their private label management capability as well. PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS A review of previous research studies related to PLBs bring forth researchers carried out related to certain issues regarding consumer intention of buying PLBs. For example researchers have found that one of the interesting phenomena of PLBs is that there are specific consumer characteristics, such as income, which are associated with differences in store brand demand and explain varying preferences (Baltas and Argouslidis, 2007; Akbay and Jones, 2005). Consumers social status is considered as one of the important factors that influence the purchase of store brands (Baltas, 2003). Further it has been found that there is a strong correlation between behavioral intention and consumer attitudes, in that attitudes influence and predict consumers purchase behavior Thompson et al. (1994). The attitudes of consumers towards own-labels are found to be important in affecting the intention of buying such products. More specific, Chaniotakis et al. (2009) highlighted the vital role of attitudes and suggested that retail chains should try to influence consumers so that they form positive attitudes toward private-labels. Further research studies lay emphasis that Consumer intention of purchasing private labels is influenced by consumer attitudes toward these products, which are affected by the related perceived benefits (Chaniotakis et al., 2009). More specific, consumers willingness to purchase own label products is closely related to the importance given to the fulfillment of expectations when choosing these products (Veloutsou et al., 2004). Particularly, among the choice criteria for purchasing own label brands, the benefits resulting from price and perceived quality of own label products are found to be significant (Veloutsou et al., 2004). The impact of benefits related to perceived quality is also highlighted by Gonzalez Mieres et al. (2006) who found that perceived quality differences between store and manufacturer brands are important in influencing consumer attitudes towards these products. Similarly, Baltas and Argouslidis (2007) showed that quality has the most significant role when evaluating store brands. In addition to this, the benefits related to the price of own label products are considered to be one of the most important factors that influence consumer purchases (Baltas, 1997). Price-quality perceptions and associations affect consumer attitudes toward own-label brands (Burton et al., 1998 in Beldona and Wysong, 2007; Garretson et al., 2002). Moreover, Sinha and Batra (1999) confirmed the impact of price benefits on own-labels buying, providing evidence that a variation in price consciousness across product categories is a significant reason why consumers buy private labels in some categories and not in others. South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

Another important finding related to consumer intentions towards own-label brands are negatively influenced by brand loyalty (Burton et al., 1998 in Beldona and Wysong, 2007). Beldona and Wysong (2007) tried to compare the brand personality traits of store and national brands, and found that consumers perceive national brands to have stronger brand personality traits when compared to store brands. It was found that the consumers intention to PLBs also depends on trust in private label products impact on consumer attitudes towards own labels via their influence on the products perceived benefits (Chaniotakis et al., 2009). Supporting this, own-label product is found to increase when consumers perceive that the consequences of making a purchasing mistake are not significant (Sinha and Batra, 1999). In addition, it seems that trust in own labels is vital as the probability of buying own-label products is found to be lower when the product category is high in experience/credence quality instead of searching through package label information (Sinha and Batra, 1999). Thus, a review of previous studies undertaken in the area of PLBs indicates that, research has been more limited to consumer level factors that make PLBs differentially across certain product categories. Given the lack of studies undertaken in own-label product that enjoys different levels of customer acceptance and perceived risk and requires different attention with respect to the different elements of the marketing mix. This paper explores the factors affecting consumers intentions to buy PLBs and the findings of this study will help retailers to understand the importance of various factors in being successful with customers in PLBs in food and grocery retail sector. OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT STUDY The present study has been undertaken to understand the Intention of Indian consumers towards PLBs in the Indian retail sector and the importance they attach to such brands while making purchases. This paper aims to uncover current consumer intention and attitudes towards, PLBs in the Indian grocery and food retail sector. Further more it aims to shed light on the effects that perceived economic situation, perceived quality, retail communications, rational and emotional factors, have on shopping behavior with reference to purchasing food and grocery based PLBs. In particular the research focuses on: To analyze the demographic variables of the respondents and intention of consumers, towards private label food and grocery items To Study consumers intention on private label food and grocery items based on buying behavior. their

To analyze consumers intention to product attributes of private label brands in food and grocery items. To analyze consumers intention on market attribute variables related to private label food and grocery items South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR
METHODOLOGY

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

To meet the research objective of this study, a survey was designed and conducted in the area of Chennai among 200 respondents, the research is exploratory nature, based on primary but secondary data has also been collected from various sources as per the requirement. For collection of primary data, an exclusive survey of top retail chains in the food and grocery retail sector was conducted. To obtain information, a structured questionnaire was formulated. A non-probability, convenient sampling technique was used to administer a consumer survey. The samples were respondents of supermarket shoppers in Chennai. 200 questionnaires were employed using self administered, mall intercept method at local shopping supermarket centers in Chennai region. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS COMPOSITION OF THE SAMPLE The sample is deemed to be somewhat representative of the urban market shopping population of Chennai. More females (78%) completed the questionnaire than males (22%). Individuals of 37 Years of age and older constitute (18%) of the total sample. Thus a broad spread of age categories is achieved. However representation is skewed towards the middle age segments; over 80% is currently married while 20% of the sample is single. The majority of sample (68%) lives in households consisting between 3 to 4 people. A (8%) of households with two or less people and a mere 24% with more than five people in their homes. The largest proportion of employment represented in the sample (96%) are employed or working with about (12%) doing business and (84%) are working class. A mere 4% of the sample is unemployed and are not actively working currently. However, it is acknowledged that the sample is slightly biased towards high and middle income earners, with (20%) living in the family type of joint family and (80%) in the nuclear type of family, as they fall in urban category. BUYING BEHAVIOR TOWARDS PLB ITEMS Consumers willingness to purchase own label products is closely related to the importance given to the fulfillment of expectation when choosing these products (Veloutsou et al., 2004).According to the survey findings, majority of the consumers(40%) go in for buying spices as the risk perceived involved in buying this items is low, Staples like Wheat, Maida are the next preferred items by consumers(30%) and this may be due popularity that the brand posses, food items occupy important place in consumer basket and it has been found that (14%) of consumers prefer private label food items, Cooking oil, Milk related items and Fresh fruits and vegetables are consumed only by (14%) of consumers and this reflects upon the perceived economic situation that is prevailing in the current situation. According to Chanikotis et al., (2009) perceived economic situation has an effect on own label products perceived benefits and consumer attitudes towards store brands.

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

CONSUMER PREFERENCE TO BUY PLB ITEMS

Staples Other food grains 4% 40% Milk related items 6% 6% 14% Spices Fresh Fruits / Vegetables 30% Oils

CONSUMERS INTENTION OF SELECTING PLB ITEMS There are various factors which are considered by the consumers in the form of intrinsic and extrinsic cues. According to Cue Utilization Theory (CUT), attributes that signal product quality can be divided into two groups intrinsic cues (flavor, color) and extrinsic cues (price, brand, advertising) (Jacoby and Olson,1977). Based on the survey findings, popularity (21%) takes first position which influences the consumers intention to buy the PLB grocery/food items, the next important factor that has played vital role in the selection criteria of PLBs is advertising where (14%) of consumers have intention to buy the private label grocery/food items based on the advertisement given through different medias, store and trust in brand has been given equal ranking each having share of (12%) and this may be due to the Indian retail still progressing towards organized retail sector, quality of private label brands (11%) has slightly influenced consumers intention regardless of product ingredients, availability of store brands also influences consumers intention of buying PLBs to the extent of (8%) where the consumer is making impulse buying, nutritional, free offers and discounts creates intention to select private label grocery/ food items each having (6%) of the total contribution and Word of Mouth (5%) have the least part in influencing consumers intention to select private label grocery and food items. South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PLB ITEMS


0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 Rank order

CONSUMERS FAMILIARITY WITH BRAND Richardson et al.(1996) as cited by Baltas (1997), identified familiarity, extrinsic cues, perceived quality, perceived risk, perceived value for money and income level as the primarily influencing factors of private label proneness. The survey findings reveals that (28%) of respondents agree that they have familiarity about the private label grocery and food items available in the place of purchase and that they are well informed about the existence of the PLBs, but (26%) of respondents disagree that they are not familiar with the private label brands of the store and this may be due to frequency of purchase made by the respondents, (25%) neither agree nor disagree with brand familiarity and this respondents may have the habit of impulse buying, (9%) strongly agree that they are familiar with PLBs in the stores and this may be due to promotional tools adopted by the store, (6%) completely agree that they are familiar with the private label brands of store which reflects due to economic situation there is price sensitivity in buyer behavior, and (5%) strongly disagree, (1%) completely disagree with familiarity towards PLBs and this may be due to brand loyalty the consumers have towards national brands.

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rP

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

CONSUMER FAMILIARITY WITH BRAND


COMPLETELY DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE DISAGREE NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE AGREE STRONGLY AGREE COMPLETELY AGREE 0 6 5 10 15 20 25 30 9 1 5 26 25 28

% OF RESPONDENTS

CONSUMERS FAVORABLE ATTITDUE TOWARDS PLBs Baltas (1997) notes that whilst past behavior, demographic variables, socio-economic factors as well as personality traits have been found to influence private label brand purchasing behavior; perceptions, attitudes and behavioral variables are more effective in this regard. The survey reveals that (39%) of respondents neither agree nor disagree with regard to their favorable attitude towards private label food and grocery items; (24%) agree that they have favorable attitude towards PLBs; (23%) disagree with the favorable attitude towards PLBs; (7%) of the respondents strongly agree and (7%) strongly disagree in their attitude towards PLBs.

CONSUMERS' FAVORABLE ATTITUDE TOWARDS PLB'S


7% 7% STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE

23%

24%

39%

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

PRICE SENSITIVITY TOWARDS PLBs Price represents an extrinsic cue and provides one of the most important forms of information available to consumers when making a purchase decision (Jin and Sternquist, 2002). According to the authors price constitutes 40% of the average consumers information search. According to the research findings (36%) agree that price influence in buying PLBs; (25%) disagrees towards their sensitivity towards price; (14%) neither agree nor disagree with their sensitiveness towards price; (10%) completely agree with their purchase decision based on price of PLBs; (7%) strongly agree that they are sensitive towards price; (5%) strongly disagree and (3%) completely disagree with the about their sensitiveness towards price of PLBs.

CONSUMERS' PRICE SENSITIVITY


40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 36 25 10 14 7 5 3 % OF R E S P O NDE NTS

E E R G LY D IS A G R

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MAJOR FINDINGS The majority of the sample falls into the 26 to 35 years old age category, reflecting 62% of respondents. The 16 to 25 year old category represents 20% of respondent and 36 to 45 year old age reflects 18% of respondents. Among the total sample (68%) lives in households consisting between three and four people. A further 18% live with two or less people and a mere 24% with more than six people in their homes From the analysis of survey data regarding occupation of respondents, 96% are employed or working with about 12% doing business and 84% working class. A mere 4% of the sample is unemployed and are not actively working currently.

South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

Among the total sample (80%) lives in nuclear type of family and 20% of the respondent lives in joint type of family. Spices is the most consumed category among different categories in PLBs, the analysis of consumers preference to buy PLB items among various categories reveal that 40% of respondents prefer to buy spices; the next preferred item for purchase is staples which accounts for 30%; other food grain items constitute 14%; oils and milk related items amount for 6% each; fresh fruits and vegetables have share of 4%. The factors that influence consumers to select private label grocery and food items while purchase reveals that (21%) of respondents has ranked popularity of a brand as the best criteria for selecting private label, 14% of the respondents are opinion that advertising given for the products plays vital selecting PLBs; store name and trust in brand have equal ranking in selecting the brand (12%); availability of the brand in store gains the (11%) in the rank order; nutritional, free offers and discounts have equal importance in selection criteria each having (6%) and finally word of mouth occupies the last rank with (5%) in influencing selection of PLBs. Brand familiarity among consumers have major influence on decision making in purchase of PLBs (28%) of the respondents agree that they are familiar with private label brands; 26% disagree with their familiarity towards PLBs; 25% of the respondents have neutral opinion; 9% strongly agree that they are well known about PLBs; 6% completely agree about their familiarity; 5% and 1% of the respondents strongly and completely disagree that they are familiar with private label grocery and food items. Favorable attitude about the respondents towards PLBs reveals that (39%) of the respondents neither agree nor disagree with their favorable attitude towards PLBs; 24% of the respondents agree their attitude is favorable towards PLBs; 23% disagree about their favorable attitude; (7%) of the respondents in their scale of agreement strongly agree and (7%) strongly disagree. Price sensitivity is one of the important variable that influence consumers intention to buy PLBs; the survey reveals that (36%) of respondents agree that they are sensitive towards price; 25% of respondents disagree regarding sensitivity; 14% neither agree not disagree about their price consciousness; 10% completely agree about price sensitivity; strongly agree 7%; 5% strongly disagree and 3% completely disagree. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS Sample size of 200 consumers is too small in order to get more accurate and precise information, it should be more Some of the respondents were not responding freely due to time constraint and pressure It is not representation of all the retail consumers in retail and grocery sector South Asian Academic Research Journals http://www.saarj.com

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SAJMMR

Volume 2, Issue 6 (June, 2012)

ISSN 2249-877X

The survey is restricted only to consumers of supermarket and other retail formats like discount stores; departmental stores were not covered. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS This study aims to shed light on Indian consumers intention to buy PLBs food and grocery items. The findings of this study can be useful to retailers in formulating strategies to make their PLBs acceptable one in the market like that of national brands. An analysis on consumers intention to buy PLBs enables retailers to adopt their own marketing mix that could enable them to identify key areas that consumers look in and concentrate their marketing efforts towards those areas. The retail industry is going through a swift of change and the competition prevailing among retailers are more stiff, big giants are eyeing on the Indian market for a share of pie. The findings of the present study provide important insights to all private label manufacturers in India to formulate marketing techniques to have strong foothold and to compete effectively in Indian market. Consumers intention to buy a product needs marketers clear understanding about mixed number of factors and one cannot define clearly what certainly consumers convey regarding their shopping behavior because loyalty towards brand keep on shifting based on the situation in which he purchase, his attitude towards the product, familiarity towards the brand, expectation he has towards the product, the level of satisfaction, store image of retail outlets etc. This study clearly brings forth the importance of price sensitivity as an attribute in influencing consumers intention to buy PLBs. A difference in pricing is desired and companies can concentrate on measures to reduce price by positioning their private label brands based on pure value for money. This equates to average quality product at very affordable prices. Familiarity towards PLBs grocery and food items need to be taken care by the retailers as old consumers are likely to prefer brands with which they are familiar, young consumers on the other hand, are more willing to try new or unfamiliar brands and products, so retailers should formulate strategy to improve brand familiarity by effective in-store promotions to determine how brand conversions may be achieved at the point of sale. Favorable attitude towards PLBs grocery and food items can be achieved by retailers through providing value addition to consumers by making small changes in packaging, containers of the product, shape of the pack, free gifts tied to the pack etc and this can be done by regular investment in research and development and by generating new ideas. Thus it can be concluded that consumers have liking towards private label products and they have intention to buy when private label are placed along with national brands but it is necessary that manufacturers should consistently provide value to customers on factors they regard high. This could enable the retailers to enjoy the benefit of profit margin and increase sales which gives retailers strong foothold to fight with big giants.

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SAJMMR
REFERENCES

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Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity, New York: Free Press. Aaker, D. A. and Keller, K. L. (1990). Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions. Journal of Marketing, 54 (January), 27-41. Agres, S. J. and Dubitsky, T. M. (1996). Changing needs for Brands. Journal of Advertising Research, 36(1), 21- 31 Banerji, S and Simon, C. J. (1992). Franchising versus Ownership. Working paper, University of Chicago. Baron, S. and Schmidt, R. (1991). Operational aspects of retail franchises. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 19 (2), 13-19. Churchill, G. A. and Suprenant, C. (1982). An Investigation into the Departments of Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research, November, 491-504. Engel, J. F., Kollat, D. T., and Blackwell R. D. (1973). Consumer Behavior, Second Edition. Chicago, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Olson, J. C. (1976). Price as an Informational Cue: Effects on Product Evaluations. Working Series in Marketing Research, College of Business Administration. The Pennsylvania State University, paper No.43 (May). Richardson, P.S., Dick, A. S., and Jain, A. K. (1994). Extrinsic and Intrinsic Cue on Perceptions of Store Brand Quality. Journal of Marketing, 58 (October), 28-36.

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