Launching store brands in emerging markets: Resistance crumbles

Purpose - Store brands, which were once only found on the shelves of developed countries, are now being introduced in emerging markets in increasing amounts. The purpose of this paper is to describe the store brand process as it is found in emerging markets. In doing so, the authors explain what are the forces that have led to the development of store brands in emerging markets and the sort of strategies that should be implemented. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides comparative statistics showing the penetration of store brands in both developed and emerging markets. Then, the conditions that determine whether store brands should be adopted by retailers are identified and discussed. Findings - Five key factors have been identified that explain successful management approaches to introducing store brands in developed as compared to emerging markets. These include the number of store brand categories available, the quality of store brands, type of products, the manufacturers of the products and the number of product lines sold by retailers. Finally, the paper discusses the future of store brands in emerging markets and predicts that their penetration will closely follow the trend in developed countries. Originality/value - This paper provides insights into what sort of strategies should be used by store managers in emerging markets to adopt store brands in order to satisfy the income levels of many of their customers. The use of store brands will not only provide more consumer satisfaction, but increased profits for the store.