Estratégia de marcas no varejo de alimentos: concepção e gestão de marcas próprias na Inglaterra e no Brasil
Abstract
In the current competitive and dynamic environment, with constant changes
concerning consumers' preferences, competitors' actions and also political and economical
changes in different countries, marketing strategies are even more relevant as the market has
reached a more significant role in the definition of the tendencies and the success or failure of
companies. Among the marketing strategies, in this paper, branding strategies deserve more
attention as they are also responsible to assure the company sustainable competitive
advantage.
Considering the retail sector, the brand is also one of the most important
concepts in the marketing strategy, mainly because consumers usually make different analysis
about the products from their brands, especially about image perception, price, value and
quality. The identity of the brand's owner has a significant impact over the impressions
consumers may have about this brand. Therefore, the decision about brands patronage is very
important for retailers including the choice between offering national brands (that belong to
manufacturers) and/or private labels (that belong to the retailers).
The focus on this thesis concerns the study of private labels strategy in food
retailers in England and in Brazil. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, a qualitative
approach and the case study procedure have been used. As the empirical research was
developed with different retailers and suppliers in England and in Brazil, the research strategy
used was multiple cases study, as multiple experiments (with replication logic). For the
interviews, semi-structured scripts were used. The results from the empirical research were
presented individually by company and then by country. The results from both countries were
analysed in a comparative way.
From the comparative analysis, it was possible to identify the distinct
characteristics of each country, as well as the factors responsible for the differences in retail
and private labels. After the comparative analysis, it was possible to elaborate
recommendations to help and guide retailers that are analysing the possibility to adopt private
label strategies. A model was developed to summarize the main elements to be considered by
food retailers during the decision of adopting private labels. Finally, limitations of the
research and suggestions for further researches were presented.