PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS AND BRAND LOYALTY: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON FMCG, WESTERN PROVINCE, SRI LANKA

Abstract

Private Label Brands (PLBs) are a popular innovative marketing strategy adopting by retailers. In contrast, PLB could be defined as the store brands that the retailers and, on most occasions, exclusively own low-cost alternatives to National Brands. Brand loyalty refers the consumer's commitment to repurchase or continue to use a certain Brand, demonstrated by repeated buying of a product, service, or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. This paper focuses on the PLBs owned by leading selfservice retailers in Sri Lanka, namely; Cargills My Choice, Keels K Choice, and Arpico Arpico Family. The paper's objective is to assess the impact of PLB characteristics, Price, quality, features, store image, and self-space allocation towards brand loyalty. The study population consisted of PLB consumers in FMCG products, and a multistage sampling technique was adopted to select 150 PLB consumers from the Western Province. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was conducted and according to findings, PLB price, quality, features, Store image, and shelf space allocation are significantly contributed to creating Brand loyalty. Further, price is the most influential factor, and the brand features are highlighted as the second most influencing factor towards PLB loyalty. Consumers prioritized PLB price and later considered the shape, colour, and package at the purchase decision. Following recommendations were proposed; (a) Comprehensive promotional campaign to PLB, (b) Competitive prices with National Brands, (c) Aligning similar and differentiated features with National Brands, (d) Continuous improvements of the quality, (e) Eye-catching shelf-space location and (f) Frequent market researches on brand equity