Private Label As A Marketing and Business Tool
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Retailers have extended the concept of private label to identify a brand with a store, a concept known as the store brand. This can be a far more profitable business than selling nationally advertised brands. A Food Marketing Institute study in the U.S. found that retailers earn a 35 percent gross margin on store-branded products compared to 25.9 percent on comparable nationally advertised brands.
Use of Private Label goes well beyond the Store Brands, though certainly this is the most frequent situation in which a customer will have contact with one.
Several corporations source an extremely wide range of products from specialized manufacturers, which may or may not own their brand. The reasons for this business practice are several. A company, having identified a business opportunity in a new product or groups of products, may assess that setting up their own production line or facility may require a substantial investment in equipment, human resources, patents and so forth. In many cases, a viable alternative is to source from a specialized company that has already made such investments and that has spare production capacity. If the two companies find that the market situation allows to avoid or minimize direct competition without stealing each other's market share (cannibalization), then both companies may find an agreement whereby the specialized manufacturer supplies the goods to the other. The methods to reduce 'cannibalization' are general marketing practices such as: dedicated distribution channels, different image and customer perception of the brands, pricing, separate regional presence etc.
This applies, with basically the same basic concepts, to the service industry (for example, customer services help-lines).
Private Label may be behind the decision of some companies to enter the market with products that are quite different, but somehow associable, to those that have made them famous (apparel companies launching perfumes; car companies launching watches and so on). Private Label may be an extremely profitable business for companies or corporations commanding an important share of the market with certain products that enjoy a high customer recognition.
As sophisticated technologies become widespread, and even subsidized, in emerging countries (generally with export-driven economies), sourcing of a wide range of products can be made at very low cost. These same products may have prices that allow for net margins to account up to several times the cost of the goods sold. Customers may be unaware of this business practice and be paying higher prices for products that differ little from others with less famous brands. On the other hand, some companies do provide additional guarantees to these products offering better quality, customer support, additional services.
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