How Does Manufacturer Brand Presence Affect Consumer Assortment Perceptions and Repatronage Intention

Store or retailer brands have grown in popularity in virtually all countries in recent years, resulting in some manufacturer brands being removed from shelves due to limited space. Given a shortage of empirical work on the impact of manufacturer brand erosion on retailers’ performance, this study uses a scenario-based experiment to show that manufacturer brand presence would enhance consumer perceptions of assortment quality and variety, leading to improvement of assortment attractiveness and repatronage intention. Therefore, retailers should carefully maintain a balance between manufacturer brands and private labels when selecting the number of items constituting their assortments in each product category.