Store brand and perceived risk on private label brand attitude

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find the influence of retailer equity and perceived risk on attitudes toward private label brand (PLB) grocery products. Design/methodology/approach Retailer equity includes four variables: retailer awareness, retailer association, retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty. The perceived risk factors include functional risk, financial risk and social risk. The attitude toward PLBs was taken as the dependent variable. The study was carried out by using a standardized questionnaire for all three constructs. The convenience sampling method was adopted to carry out data collection from customers of organized retail stores in the city of Coimbatore, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The relationship between the three variables was studied with structural equation modeling using IBM SPSS Amos software. Findings The study revealed that excluding the Financial Risk and the Social Risk, functional risk alone has significant influence over the PLB Attitude. The Retailer Equity variables, retailer perceived quality and retailer loyalty have positive influence on the PLB Attitude, while the other two variables do not show any influence. Retailer Awareness shows a negative influence over the social risk. Retailer Association does not show any influence on any of the three risk factors. Retailer perceived quality shows negative influence over the functional risk while retailer loyalty negatively influences social risk. Research limitations/implications The research study was carried out in cities that are populous in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. All the respondents came from three cities in Tamil Nadu, namely, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Madurai. Hence, extending the findings of the study to other countries where organized retail penetration is deeper may be attempted with caution. Practical implications The study will offer managers in the retail industry some understanding of the risk-relieving factors in operation when buying grocery goods. Originality/value The research paper contributes to the literature concerning the role played by retailer equity and perceived risk factors on attitudes toward PLBs.