Private Label Brands in India- Protracted Path Ahead

Abstract

The last decade has seen major change in retailing in India, especially in the grocery and general merchandise industry. Retail in the country has been subject to millions of unorganized retailers who have used consumer immediary and home-delivery as their operating ideals to cater to the Indian consumer. The immense potential and current status of the retail industry had attracted many national and international players to the arena of retailing. As a result organized retail sector is witnessing a number of major business houses launching massive organized retail ventures. Since UK and USA are the pioneers in retail, the strategies of Indian players are influenced by the practices of west retailers. In Indian context, retailers are now concentrating on private label brands along with manufactures brand Retailers generally use manufacturer brands to generate consumer interest, patronage, and loyalty in a store and are using private label brand to stimulate sales with more profit margin. Although private labelprovides benefit to the retaileras well as consumer, there is no Signifance acceptance of private brands among customers. This paper is an unpretentious attempt to demonstrate that the path of private label brands is not easy in Indian retail scenario due to number of divergent reasons having an implication on the retailer.