Shelf management of store brands: analysis of manufacturers' perceptions

This paper seeks to analyze the shelf management actions undertaken by dealers between manufacturer and store brands, from the manufacturer perspective. Particularly, to know whether there is an agreement in manufacturers' perceptions on the merchandising of the different brands on the shelf or, on the contrary, whether different groups of manufacturers can be identified – in the latter case, to characterize these groups of manufacturers.

The data come from a survey aimed at the business units of mass commodity companies in Spain. The variables are: seven items on agreement degree regarding the shelf management carried out by distributors, manufacturer's descriptive variables and manufacturer's competitive strategy variables. The manufacturers' perceptions are analyzed by univariate and bivariate descriptive analysis techniques. Different groups of manufacturers in relation to their merchandising and shelf space perceptions are identified by multivariate techniques of cluster and hierarchical segmentation.

On average, manufacturers consider that retailers are favoring unequal competition terms between manufacturer and store brands through better merchandising management for their own brands. Nevertheless, different groups of manufacturers are identified according to their perceptions.

The potential contribution of this research lies in the identification and characterization of different groups of manufacturers regarding their opinions about shelf management actions undertaken by retailers. Moreover, the results evidence an increasing power of retailers and show manufacturers how they can respond.