Private label brands vs national brands: new battle fronts and future competition

Abstract

The rising phenomenon of private label brands across the globe has given grocery retailers new areas for competition and growth. As a result, this has spiralled competition between private label brands (PLBs) and national brands (NBs). With the grocery retail space undergoing various transitions over the years, the battleground between private label brands and national brands has also seen new trajectories. The purpose was to review earlier and current competition and identify future battle fronts between the two brands. To do this, a systematic literature review (SLR) of existing research between PLBs and NBs was undertaken. Studies from 2010 to 2022 were systematically reviewed to identify past, current, and future battle fronts to have emerged. In reviewing literature, a PRISMA flow chart structure, which details the searching, screening, including, and excluding of studies, was used. It was found that past competitive areas were largely price-quality schema. Currently, NBs continue with their higher pricing, to sustain their brand equity. On the other hand, grocery retailers continue to strategically position and reposition PLBs. In future, the study proposes strategic areas for consideration, product line expansion, newer pricing strategies, investments in both online and offline store formats, and strategic collaboration between both brands. Moreover, future areas of research were proposed.