Women's Retail Brand Awareness

While sales of private label store brands are experiencing strong growth, only 20% of women, on average, can identify which brands are sold by which retailers. What are the characteristics of the the store brands with highest awareness? Which are destination brands? How do exclusive celebrity and fashion brands fare compared to store-developed brands?

For this exclusive report we asked 300 women to identify which of 46 fashion, food, and storewide brands (store-developed or licensed) are sold at Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Sears/Kmart, JC Penney, Macy’s and 13 other retailers.

While 78% of women know that Sears (and Kmart since the merger) sell the Kenmore and Craftsman store brands, and 48% know that Faded Glory is a Wal-Mart label, only 1% associate Sheryl Crow’s Bootheel Trading with Dillard’s.

But beyond knowing which brands are sold where, this report tracks women’s main reasons for choosing a brand.

You’ll learn when the availability of a favored store brand makes that retailer a must-stop; the degree to which a store brand's availability increases the amount spent at that store; and when a store brand results in a shopper recommending that store to friends and family.

All of the data is broken out by age, income, presence in the household of children under age 18, and whether they are married or single. In addition, “Women’s Retail Brand Awareness” reveals:

• How the frequency with which women shop these stores affects their ability to identify which brands are sold where (hint: the trend is clear but the exceptions surprising);

• Which media most effectively promote store brands (hint: it is NOT television);

• When licensing a celebrity or fashion brand for a private label is more advantageous than starting from scratch (hint: only if identification with the celebrity or designer is crystal clear);

• Which retailers most effectively leverage their image through exclusive store brands (hint: longevity helps, though good marketing breaks through even for new labels).

Sales of private label goods have taken off in recent years not only because manufacturers have put substantial effort into offering more attractive packaging and labeling, but also because a majority of consumers who have tried them have deemed them as good as national brands.

This proprietary research from the publisher of Research Alert, The Licensing Letter and Marketing To Women, is your guide you to the $80+ billion private label business.

Published November 2009, 88 pages, 58 charts, tables and graphs depicting women’s private label shopping knowledge, behavior and attitudes.. Single-user edition $299 ($249 for subscribers to any EPM paid newsletter) or give everyone in your company access to this report through a Multi-User PDF.