• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.39-45
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• 2011

The Korean distribution industry is gearing up for an endless competition. Greeting low growth era, less competitive parties will be challanged seriously for their survival. But for large discount stores, they have shown steady annual growth for years. However, because of the saturation for numbers of stores, the difficulty of gaining new sites, and the changes in the consumer's consumption behavior caused by the recession, now they are seeking for a new customers-based business formats. Accordingly, a large corporate comopanies made supermarkets which are belonged to affiliated companies of large corporate comopanies. They based on the strong buying power, focused on SSM(Super Super Market) ave been aggressively develop nationwide multi-stores. The point is that these stores are threatening at small and medium-sized, community-based private supermarkets. Private supermarkets and retailers, who are using existing old operation systems and their dilapidated facilities, are losing a competitive edge in business. Recent the social effects of large series of corporate supermarkets for traditional markets has been very controversial, and commercial media, academia, and industry associated with it have been held many seminars and public hearings. This may slow down the speed in accordance with the regulations, but will not be the crucial alternative. The reason for this recent surge of enterprise-class SSM up, one of the reasons is a stagnation in their offline discount mart, so they are finding new growth areas. Already in the form of large supermarkets across the country got most of the geographical centre point and is saturated with stages. Targeting small businesses that do not cover discount Mart, in order to expand business in the form of SSM is urgent. By contrast, private supermarkets are going to lose their competitiveness. The vulnerability of individual supermarkets, one of the vulnerabilities is price which economies of scale can not be realized so they are purchasing a small amount of products and difficult to get a quantity discount. The lack of organization and collaboration, and education which is not practical, caused the absencer of service-oriented situations. As a first solution, making specialty shops which are handling agricultures, fruits and vegetables and manufactured goods is recommended. Second, private supermarkets franchisees join the organization for the organization and collaboration is recomaned. It can be meet the scale of economy and can be formed a alternative business formats to a government. Third, the education is needed as a good service will get consumer's awareness. In addition, a psychological stores operating is also one way to stimulate consumer sentiment as SSM can't operate. Japan already has a better conditions of their lives through small chain expression. This study includes the vulnerabilities of private supermarkets, and suggests a competitiveness reinforcement strategies.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-27
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• 2011

Introduction: Sales of private labels(PU have been growing m recent years. Globally, PLs have already achieved 20% share, although between 25 and 50% share in most of the European markets(AC. Nielson, 2005). These products are aimed to have comparable quality and prices as national brand(NB) products and have been continuously eroding manufacturer's national brand market share. Stores have also started introducing premium PLs that are of higher-quality and more reasonably priced compared to NBs. Worldwide, many retailers already have a multiple-tier private label architecture. Consumers as a consequence are now able to have a more diverse brand choice in store than ever before. Since premium PLs are priced higher than regular PLs and even, in some cases, above NBs, stores can expect to generate higher profits. Brand extensions and private label have been extensively studied in the marketing field. However, less attention has been paid to the private label extension. Therefore, this research focuses on private label extension using the Multi-Attribute Attitude Model(Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Especially there are few studies that consider the hierarchical effect of the PL's two parent brands: store brand and the original PL. We assume that the attitude toward each of the two parent brands affects the attitude towards the extended PL. The influence from each parent brand toward extended PL will vary according to the perceived fit between each parent brand and the extended PL. This research focuses on how these two parent brands act as reference points to one another in the consumers' choice consideration. Specifically we seek to understand how store image and attitude towards original PL affect consumer perceptions of extended premium PL. How consumers perceive extended premium PLs could provide strategic suggestions for retailer managers with specific suggestions on whether it is more effective: to position extended premium PL similarly or dissimilarly to original PL especially on the quality dimension and congruency with store image. There is an extensive body of research on branding and brand extensions (e.g. Aaker and Keller, 1990) and more recently on PLs(e.g. Kumar and Steenkamp, 2007). However there are no studies to date that look at the upgrading and influence of original PLs and attitude towards store on the premium PL extension. This research wishes to make a contribution to this gap using the perceived fit difference between parent brands and extended premium PL as the context. In order to meet the above objectives, we investigate which factors heighten consumers' positive attitude toward premium PL extension. Research Model and Hypotheses: When considering the attitude towards the premium PL extension, we expect four factors to have an influence: attitude towards store; attitude towards original PL; perceived congruity between the store image and the premium PL; perceived similarity between the original PL and the premium PL. We expect that all these factors have an influence on consumer attitude towards premium PL extension. Figure 1 gives the research model and hypotheses. Method: Data were collected by an intercept survey conducted on consumers at discount stores. 403 survey responses were attained (total 59.8% female, across all age ranges). Respondents were asked to respond to a series of Questions measured on 7 point likert-type scales. The survey consisted of Questions that measured: the trust towards store and the original PL; the satisfaction towards store and the original PL; the attitudes towards store, the original PL, and the extended premium PL; the perceived similarity of the original PL and the extended premium PL; the perceived congruity between the store image and the extended premium PL. Product images with specific explanations of the features of premium PL, regular PL and NB we reused as the stimuli for the Question response. We developed scales to measure the research constructs. Cronbach's alphaw as measured each construct with the reliability for all constructs exceeding the .70 standard(Nunnally, 1978). Results: To test the hypotheses, path analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.30. The path analysis for verification of the model produced satisfactory results. The validity index shows acceptable results(${\chi}^2=427.00$(P=0.00), GFI= .90, AGFI= .87, NFI= .91, RMSEA= .062, RMR= .047). With the increasing retailer use of premium PLBs, the intention of this research was to examine how consumers use original PL and store image as reference points as to the attitude towards premium PL extension. Results(see table 1 & 2) show that the attitude of each parent brand (attitudes toward store and original pL) influences the attitude towards extended PL and their perceived fit moderates these influences. Attitude toward the extended PL was influenced by the relative level of perceived fit. Discussion of results and future direction: These results suggest that the future strategy for the PL extension needs to consider that positive parent brand attitude is more strongly associated with the attitude toward PL extensions. Specifically, to improve attitude towards PL extension, building and maintaining positive attitude towards original PL is necessary. Positioning premium PL congruently to store image is also important for positive attitude. In order to improve this research, the following alternatives should also be considered. To improve the research model's predictive power, more diverse products should be included in study. Other attributes of product should also be included such as design, brand name since we only considered trust and satisfaction as factors to build consumer attitudes.