Assesing the success of private labels online: differences across categories in the grocery industry

This paper analyses online competition between private labels and national brands. Purchase data from a grocery retailer operating both on and offline are used to compute two measures of competition (intrinsic loyalty and conquesting power) for both the private label, and what this paper terms the “reference brand” (a compound of the different national brands within a category), in 36 product categories. The results show that the competitive position of the private label, relative to that of the reference brand, varies across categories and across channels. Using the framework devised by Steenkamp and Dekimpe (Long Range Plan 30(6):917–930, 1997.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-6301(97)00077-0) we combine the two computed measures of competition, and classify the private label as a miser, a giant, a fighter or an artisan in each channel and category. The results show: (1) that private labels significantly improve their competitive position online; and (2) that this improvement is not equal across all categories.