Manufacturers' food brands: Assessment of marketing opportunities in the UK supermarkets

Abstract

Manufacturers' food brands are under pressure from both own labels and ‘value’ products. Both the manufacturers' traditional marketing interface with the consumers through the advertising media and the retail outlets are becoming more expensive to use and more difficult to control. This research paper investigates the retailers' branding strategies which have generally weakened the market position of national brands in the UK grocery sector. Existing literature on British retailing suggests that the introduction of new differentiated brands and maintaining customer loyalty for established brands may be underestimated. The paper argues for a new promotional approach to aid national brand manufacturers look for greater quality control and objective measurements of promotional effectiveness. It was found that a push through successful product innovation, by exploring the manufacturer's unique assets and opportunities, weakened the retailer's limited brand management experience. It draws conclusions on retailers' marketing activities which tend to reduce market share of national brands. The manufacturer's market position is not nearly as desperate as previous research findings have suggested. The share of the market taken by national and own-label brands is determined by the consumer choice in the market place.