Chapter 4 Building brand equity between manufacturers and retailers

Abstract

In the literature on product branding, significant attention is given to brand equity in the consumer context, but relatively little attention is paid to the application of the concept in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Even less research exists on the role of brand equity in the retailing context. Retailers are often seen as irrelevant to the source of brand value, resulting in manufacturers not targeting retailers to help them build stronger brands. Potential occurs, therefore, for some channel conflict to exist between manufacturers and retailers. On the one hand, retailers tend to focus on building their own, private brands to differentiate themselves from other retail competitors and to increase their power in relation to manufacturer brands. At the same time, most retailers still need to create a good image in the consumer marketplace by selling famous, manufacturer-branded products. In other words, retailers often have to sell famous brands even if they would prefer to sell other brands including their own. Manufacturers tend to focus their brand-building efforts on the consumer market to entice consumers to insist that retailers stock their brands, rather than placing any real emphasis on building a strong and positive brand relationship with the retailer directly.

Citation

Tran, Q. and Cox, C. (2009), "Chapter 4 Building brand equity between manufacturers and retailers", Glynn, M.S. and Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Business-To-Business Brand Management: Theory, Research and Executivecase Study Exercises (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 115-194. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1069-0964(2009)0000015008