Katrijn Gielens, Marnik G. Dekimpe, Anirban Mukherjee, Kapil Tuli
Private-label (PL) shares are characterized by considerable heterogeneity across both countries and categories, not only in their current level, but also in the rate at which they are growing. This creates ambiguity about their remaining growth potential. To offer insights into the likely long-run PL shares, we take a forward-looking perspective by means of a convergence model. We apply the model to two unique datasets that together span more than 50 countries, both emerging and developed, across more than70 CPG categories. We find evidence of partial PL convergence: even though PL shares will become more similar, part of the currently observed heterogeneity will persist. The future evolution in two key marketing instruments, new-product introductions by both NB manufacturers and retailers and the NB-PL price gap, is found to play a substantial role in shaping the global PL landscape of the future. This impact is not uniform, however, but depends on the category, and varies with the retail, economic and cultural context. In addition, the long-run impact of both marketing drivers differs from what is currently observed, suggesting that managers should not adhere too strongly to earlier practices when planning for the future. © 2022
Professor of Marketing and Sarah Kenan Graham Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Research Professor of marketing department at Tilburg University, Netherlands; Professor of Marketing at KU Leuven, Belgium; Fellow at the Emerging Markets Institute, INSEAD, Singapore; Lee Kong Chian Professor of Marketing, and Director of Retail Centre of Excellence, at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore
