This research demonstrates how the presence of copycat private labels (CCPLs) on retail shelves can positively affect consumers’ shopping experience. Adopting a construal level theoretical perspective, Experiment 1 shows that when consumers shop with an abstract mindset, the presence (vs. absence) of CCPLs in a product set positively affects choice ease. Experiment 2 replicates this finding using different stimuli, manipulation of abstract mindset, and measure of choice ease. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the presence of CCPLs due to perceptions of similarity, substitutability, and simplicity positively influences choice ease and attitude toward the chosen product for those with an abstract mindset through conditional mediation. Experiment 4 extends these findings to practice by showing that when consumers shop at a far distance (i.e., ten feet), the presence of CCPLs once again positively affects choice ease and subsequent attitude toward the chosen product. The theoretical and practical contributions of this research are discussed.

Introduction

“When consumers enter a grocery store, a drug store, or a department store, literally thousands of SKUs [stock keeping units], representing thousands of brands, bombard their visual field. Some of the brands are national brands, but more and more of them are store brands or private labels” (Grewal & Levy, 2009; p. 523). It is apparent that product proliferation, specifically the marketing of insignificant variations of the same basic product to consumers (Berman, 2011), has increased in the U.S. (Schwartz, 2004) and has led consumers to experience greater choice difficulty as they shop for products to purchase (Broniarczyk, 2008; Iyengar & Lepper, 2000; Schwartz, 2004). One major contributor to the current proliferation of products has been the recent influx of private labels into the marketplace (Kumar & Steenkamp, 2007). In 2015 and 2016, private labels in the U.S. reached record highs of $118 billion in sales, equating to an 18% market share (PLMA, 2017; Progressive Grocer, 2016). Combining sales from > 700 food and non-food product categories and sub-categories across major outlets (e.g., supermarkets, drug, club, dollar), this equates to an annual growth rate of 2% (PLMA, 2016).