The Emergence of Retail Brand Power

Abstract

The emergence of retail brand power may be a comparatively recent phenomenon but the emergence of retailing power is not. Retailing powerhouses like Sears, Wool worths and the British Co-operative movement have been in existence for generations and, in their heyday, had an almost institutional status within society. Indeed, branded products of one sort or another have been bought and sold by retailers for decades yet most textbooks on marketing and on branding have, at least until very recently, tended to ignore the retailer’s influence on branding. This omission is surprising since it is clear that retailing has had a profound impact on branding techniques for far more than just the last few years.