Proposal Gsb 5b5i32

“CONSUMERS BUYING ATTITUDE TOWARD PRIVATE LABEL BRAND”

PREPARED BY: NOOR FADZLIN BINTI ABU BAKAR ZP02537 MASTER OF MARKETING (UKM-GSB) Introduction The Private Label market in Malaysia worth RM240 million as at September 2008, translating to over 30% year on year growth. In Peninsular Malaysia prices of some grocery segments have jumped as much as 20% year to date, with food items rising by an average of 15%. Inflation pressures are forcing cost conscious consumer in Malaysia to adapt their shopping habits and switch to cheaper alternatives, that is Private Label. Price difference is the strongest proposition for Private Label, with an average price gap of about 30% between the tops 10 penetrated Private Labels and branded products in Malaysia, in line with global trends. Sales of Private Labels grew 32% from February to September 2007 far ahead of the 15% growth in branded goods compared with the previous corresponding period. Problem Statement With an increased set of brands to choose from, consumers are deciding the purchase of a brand by weighing various factors like price, quality, packaging etc. Both the manufacturer’s brands are fighting to attract the consumers on these factors. In the past, lower priced private label brands were equated with lower quality when they were first introduced. However in recent time, major retailers have increased the quality level of their private brand even better than the national brand leaders. There is evidence shows that quality private label brands can help differentiates a retail store and create store loyalty (Constjens and Lal ,2000)

This study is to know which factors can influence the customer’s attitude toward private label brands and subsequently influence their decision to purchase these brands. Research Objective 1.1

To determine factors perceived to be important in purchasing private label

1.2

brand To compare perception of extrinsic factors, intrinsic factors and consumer attitudes among consumer

Significant of Study This study can be a guideline to retailers in developing attitude toward private label brands in Malaysia. It also helps the retailers to focus on the prices of private label brands in improving their reputation. Furthermore, the retailer gain the competitive advantages by giving the customer lower prices and good quality of product. Literature Review The transformation of private local brands products has not gone unnoticed by consumers. The improvement in private local brands has made these products an acceptable purchase alternative for large groups of consumers. That two out of three consumers around the world believe that supermarkets’ own brands are a good alternative to manufacturer brands, but does this apply to the Malaysian market scenario when it comes to the quality of in house food products? How do consumers perceive the price of these products and how loyal are the consumers to private local brands products. (Nielsen,2005) Another important trend relates to the emphasis on quality of private local brands. For private local brand retailers of products to be successful on the market they must develop high quality private local brands, not just low priced brands and this is the line which Woolworths Food is pursuing with its products (Stambaugh,1993). Without a combination of low price and high quality, private local brands cannot be successful. Private local brand marketing landscape is changing as more retailers are indicating a growing enthusiasm for , high quality store brands intended to compete directly with leading manufacturer brands on quality and image, not just on price (Hoeffler & Keller, 2003), but then the question in this case is how do consumers perceive the quality of such products. These efforts seem to have had an impact on consumers’ perceptions of private local brands.

Theoretical Framework

Intrinsic

Private Label Brand

Entrinsic

Consumers Attitude

Conceptual framework adopted from Chaniotakis et al.(2010); Liljander et al. (2009); Beneke,(2008); Munusamy and Wong, (2008) Methodology This survey method of obtaining information is based on the questioning of respondents. Data will be collected by intercepting shoppers in shopping malls and requesting them to complete a self istered questionnaire. The questionnaire contained a number of items that were used to estimate the constructs of interest. Specifically, the various constructs were measured using Likert five –point scales. REFERENCES ACNielsen Grocery Report Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences,2 (8), 73-90 Batra,R.Sinh, I. (2000). “Consumer-Level Factors Moderating the Success of Private Label Brands, “ Journal of Retailing, 76 (2), 175-191 Beneke.J. (2008) Consumer perceptions of private label brands within the retail grocery sector of South Africa. Journal of Business Management.,4 (2), 203-220 Chaniotakis, I.E., Lymperopoulos,C., and Soureli,M.,(2010). Consumers intentions of buying own label food products. Journal of product and brand management, 19 (5), 327-334 Corstjens, Marcel and Rajiv Lal (2003), Building Store Loyalty through Store Brands”, Journal of Marketing Research, 37 (August), 281-292