Measuring perceived social risk of private label grocery brands by addressing the visibility concern

Abstract

With over 115,857 traditional grocery stores and a $700 billion market, grocery shopping represents one of the most common shopping ventures for American consumers (Zeballos, 2020). Despite having several brands to choose from, grocery shopping is seen as a mundane chore which in turn is characterized by low involvement (Cockburn-Wootten et al., 2018). As such, this study sought to examine one possible influencer of the American grocery shopper’s product choices. More specifically the study sought to address whether social settings of various levels of group intimacy (household use, party with friends, and work-sponsored party) influenced American consumers’ perception of the social risk of buying grocery PLBs. This study made use of ketchup and soda as product stimuli. This was due to the label visibility, or publicness, of the products in a typical serving situation. It was found that NBs have purchase preference and are perceived to be of higher quality, while their PLB counterparts were viewed neutrally. The NBs were also found to have slightly higher self-congruence, albeit slightly above neutral. Regarding social risk, social scenarios were not found to be an influence of the perceived social risk of NBs. For PLBs, household and friend scenarios were rated similarly with no significant difference. However, the work scenario was found to influence perceived social risk. This study implies that American consumers don’t view PLBs negatively, rather they’re viewed as unpreferred or not the standard.