Determinants of perception towards private label brands in Zimbabwe: The role of product category

A survey was conducted to quantify the effect of product category on private label brand perception. From 43 respondents, the perceived value, risk and quality for rice and tissue were scored. It was hypothesized that consumers may have a higher perception of basic commodities that do not require further processing after purchase. Data was analyzed using the one-way Analysis of Variance. It was found that product category significantly affects private label brand perception. The score for mean risk perception of rice was 3.63 and for tissue it was 2.88, the difference was significant (p=0.033). For quality perception the score was higher for tissue (4.42) and lower for rice (3.80). While the observation for quality was not significant at p<0.05 it was significant at p=0.096. For value perception though the difference was not significant (p=0.218) consumers had a higher perception for tissue (4.72) compared to rice (4.33). It was concluded that consumers have a higher perception for private label brand products that require further processing and a lower perception for those that do not require additional processing. This means that retailers cannot use the same marketing strategy even for basic commodities. For categories requiring further processing they need to embark on more aggressive marketing strategies such as the distribution of free samples and the use of in-store tastes.