Private label as a vehicle for innovation

Working paper

The development of private label is well advanced in the UK retail market, especially within the grocery sector. Retailers, such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, target the mass market with a wide range of private labels, for price sensitive customers to socially and environmentally sensitive customers. This development is related to the need for retailers in a highly capital concentrated market, such as the UK, to differentiate themselves from other retailers. UK retailers develop premium private label in order to provide the customer’s wide choice and to escape the commoditization of products. However, while some of this new product innovation is driven by suppliers, some retailers take a more direct involvement in private label development. It is important to identify the difference in approach between customer driven innovation and supplier driven innovation, as these have major implications for premium and niche lifestyle private label development for the individual retailers and the market as a whole. Our case study demonstrates that lifestyle private label performs an important role as a vehicle for incremental innovation.

Authors: Fujioka, R; Cuthbertson, R

• Publication status: Not published
• Peer review status: Not peer reviewed
• Publication date: 2010-01-01
• Edition: Author's Original
• Language: English
• Keywords: retail; new product development; own label; innovation; private label; service innovation
• Subjects: Management; Business and Management; Business; Entrepreneurship