Towards Sustainable Private Labels—What is the Consumer Behavior Relating to Private Labels in the UK and Poland?

Abstract

Consumer behavior towards private labels (PLs) is constantly changing, accompanied by the development from generic products, offered at very low prices, towards sustainable PLs. Our study aimed to analyze the behavior of British and Polish consumers towards PLs of the retail chains. To achieve this, special attention was given to the following issues: frequency of purchasing PLs by food categories, motives for purchasing PL products, opinions of the current development of PLs, and length of the period of purchasing products under PLs. We also presented the socioeconomic features of the Polish and British consumers purchasing PL products using a correspondence graph. Our research was conducted using a sample of 500 adults from Poland and 500 adults from the UK and the Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing method (CAWI) was used. The questionnaire was addressed only to adults who declared that they purchase PL products. For a detailed analysis of consumer choices and service quality assessment, we used Pearson’s chi-square test, as well as the Kohonen’s neural network and multi-dimensional cluster analysis. We have divided the sample population into 4 clusters based on 6 factors, characterizing households: education level, income, household residence, age, gender, and period of buying PL products. Our study indicates that Polish consumers are more likely to pay attention to lower prices for PLs, while British consumers point quality compared to manufacturers’ brands. In the opinion of Polish consumers, an improvement in quality is only just beginning. This means that PLs available on the British market are characterized by a higher stage of development towards sustainable PLs.

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“…This question guided us in designing this study. This study is a continuation of our research on the PLs in Poland [9,[67][68][69][70] and UK [9].…”

“…We have considered the same criteria as in our surveys conducted in the UK and Poland, using the same methodology. In these studies, the sample size was restricted to 500 people [9].…”

“…For this purpose, we used data from the statistical office [65]. An analogous sample selection approach ensuring representativeness was used in our previous research conducted in Poland and the UK [9]. The questionnaires were distributed via the University of La Laguna and local websites.…”

“…The questionnaire consisted of several questions and research problems (Table 1). It was designed based on the literature and our previous research [9,67,78]. This research incorporated closed-ended questions and multiple-choice questions.…”

“…Subsequently, assortment development in terms of differentiation and quality improvement has occurred, and PLs have become an important competitive advantage compared to producer brands [6,7]. Currently, the development of sustainable PLs is being observed [8,9]. Retail chains are implementing sustainability principles in production, packaging, product mix, and cooperation with suppliers [10].…”