Private Label Strategy by Nirmalya Kumar and Han-Benedict E.M Steenkamp is an excellent book for anyone involved or interested in the use of private labels (house brands) in retail. This book has specific application for Australian newsagents given the use of a private label (Sovereign) to combat the private label strategies of our competitors: Australia Post, Big W, Coles, Safeway, K-Mart and Officeworks. The book also helps us understand the place of private labels net to branded product.
Too often in the newsagency channel we copy others without thinking the strategy through or researching whether it may be appropriate to our situation. I suspect our approach to private label stationery is an example of this. Take the Sovereign private label stationery offer from GNS. This appears to be all about price – it is certainly not a quality proposition. Sovereign doesn’t provide better margins so on price it fails.
As Private Label Strategy documents, private labels are about much more than price.
With a potential retail network of in excess of 4,000 newsagents, I would hope that those involved in developing the Sovereign strategy for newsagents take time out to read this book – it is the first of its kind. I am finding it inspirational and challenging.