Private Labels and Negative Marketing Events - Inter-Category Spillover Effects to Competing Retailers' Private Labels
(R2024-122609)

AUTHORS

Olivier Reimann, ZHAW School of Management and Law; Liane Nagengast, ZHAW School of Management and Law; Oliver Thomas, ZHAW School of Management and Law; Gunther Kucza, ZHAW School of Management and Law

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates how negative information about one retailer's private label (PL) leads to inter-category spillover effects on other retailers' PLs. Drawing on categorization theory, we test whether a product-harm crisis (PHC) of a specific PL product at one retailer reduces consumer evaluations of competing retailers' PL products. Our online experiment shows that a PHC involving a retailer's standard PL product triggers negative spillover effects on a competing retailer's PLs for various product categories. Hence, retail managers should be aware that a PHC at a competing retailer might negatively affect consumer evaluations of their PL products.