Purchasing Premium Private Labels: An investigation of a potential for maternity and breastfeeding clothes in the retail sector

Abstract

In this study a specialized retail market was examined, concentrating on stores selling clothes for pregnant and breastfeeding women in Scandinavia.One of the hottest trends in retailing is the emergence of premium private labels. The objective of this research is to investigate if there is a potential in offering Premium Private Labels (PPL) for this retail sector since it is considered to be a short specialized clothing period. Prices of PPL can be ten times higher than the price of the “standard” product but other factors than only price defines the worth and value of premium products. Retailers’ constraints and controlled factors were examined but the main focus was placed on the Consumer Decision Process (CDP) model. The CDP-model includes five stages and seven consumer behavior domains. The domains in the “purchase” stage were connected when organizing the quantitative research. An interesting result from the survey indicated that only 11,1% of purchase managers in the maternity and breastfeeding clothing sector purchased luxury brands for their customers. Based on the answers from the questionnaire, there might be a potential for offering more “premium private label” because retailers are positive in trying to meet the needs of pregnant or breastfeeding buyers.