Journal Article

Exploring Private Label Perception through Projective Techniques: Insights for Retail Brand Strategy and Business Performance

Horvat, Sandra

2025

Overview

Purpose: This study uses projective techniques to explore how consumers perceive private labels and provides retailers with actionable findings for developing successful private label strategies. Design/Methodology: The research employed a qualitative design using two projective techniques, word association and a combined sentence completion and role-playing task, on a sample of 98 graduate students from the University of Zagreb. Findings: Projective techniques help uncover how consumers evaluate private labels by using a rational risk- reward analysis based on price and quality. Spontaneous associations confirm that price and affordability remain the primary mental triggers, but the decision to purchase is a value-driven substitution, frequently rationalized as receiving \"equal quality at a lower price\". The study establishes a strong link between private labels and the retailer's identity. Practical Implications: From a managerial perspective, the results indicate that retailers must move beyond simple low-price positioning and focus on communicating superior value and tangible savings. Managers should address quality polarization by actively improving product quality, cooperating with local suppliers, and using explicit quality-assurance claims to mitigate perceived risk. At the same time, they should recognize that confidence in private labels is fundamentally tied to the retailer's image. Originality/Value: What is new in this study is the use of projective techniques in this context, which leads to several specific implications for retailers.

• Publisher: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business,Sveučilište u Zagrebu Ekonomski fakultet
• Subject: Affordability / Brands / College students / Consumer behavior / consumer perception / Consumers / Financial performance / Graduate students / Labeling / Organizational effectiveness / Polarization / Positioning / Prices / private labels / Product quality / Projective techniques / projective techniques: word association / Quality / Research design / Research methodology / retail brand strategy / Retailing industry / Risk perception / Role playing / sentence completion / Value / Word and letter association / Word association