competition between own brands and brands has been seen mainly within the context of the retail outlet itself and from the point of view of the supplier of nationally branded products. Using such analyses, a number of strategies have been identi?ed for suppliers to counter the penetration of own brands. In the context of this paper the strategy of narrowing the price differential between supplier and own brands is important. Such moves can bene?t the supplier brand, due to the different price elasticities typical of both types of product. High service retailers have their own price problems and are equally concerned to reduce the price differential between themselves and “hard discounters”. To achieve what has now become a shared goal of lowering prices, suppliers and high service retailers have collaborated in initiatives that require viewing the supply chain more as a single entity.
In other words, as a value system. The empirical work reported here takes the same approach in assessing the competition between brands and own brands, the latter selling in both full service and discount retailers.