Drivers of Store Brand Choice Over National Brands in Times of Crisis: Effect of Marketing Variables and Socio-Demographics

This paper investigates the effect of marketing variables and consumer personal characteristics on store brand choice over national brands in times of crisis in the French context. We developed a binary choice model to assess consumer choice of store brands instead of national brand products. The analyses are based on a large panel data with stratified samples of about 4,500 households (N = 80,732). Results show that marketing variables and consumer characteristics affect significantly store brand choice. However, while crisis intensity moderates the relationships between marketing policy variables and store brand choice, it does not affect overall the way consumer characteristics influence store brand choice over national brand. Furthermore, the product categories investigated are not affected similarly, highlighting the diversity of consumer strategies developed to cope with economic crisis. These findings present theoretical implications for marketing research and managerial orientations for retailers and manufacturers.