Private labels importance across different store loyalty stages: a multilevel approach

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the importance of private labels (PLs) offered by each retailer on store loyalty, combining different loyalty-driven factors and assessing the importance of PLs on different loyalty stages – attitudinal and behavioural store loyalty. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a questionnaire (online survey) run in Portugal (n=469). Multi-level regressions were run to estimate the different loyalty models (base and full models) on each loyalty stage. Findings: Results stress the positive contribution of PLs on consumers’ loyalty across different loyalty stages. However, findings suggest that this relationship may not be as strong as suggested in earlier studies. Findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between attitudinal and behavioural loyalty, emphasizing the complexity of the consumer loyalty construct and that multiple store-related factors can positively contribute to it. Research limitations/implications: Data were collected in one single country. It would be interesting to collect similar data in other countries in order to assess the extent to which results prevail across different competitive and cultural contexts. Practical implications: Findings indicate that the loyalty factors that contribute to store loyalty are not homogeneous across the different loyalty stages, strengthening the idea that retailers should adopt different loyalty strategies depending on the loyalty stage its target customers are in. Originality/value: This study is the first of its kind combining in a single framework the loyalty towards the retailers’ brand, store-related variables (in-store and economic factors), and specific consumer and retailer characteristics across different loyalty stages.