The Impact of Private Label Brand Personality Perception on Consumers' Buying Intentions

Introduction

Nowadays, experienced changes and developments have affected all sectors as well as the retail sector. In time, small grocery stores have turned into supermarkets and hypermarkets. With the impact of globalization, many foreign-owned companies also have become active in the local retail sector. This situation has further increased the competition in the sector. Local firms in the retail sector struggling against both national companies and global scale companies. Therefore, this situation has increased the competitive environment of the sector and competitive pressure on firms.

In addition, there have been some changes in the expectations, needs, and wishes of consumers towards products and services. Especially, this change has accelerated after the industrial revolution. Today, in the face of these changes, manufacturers of products and services face a variety of challenges in responding to the rapidly changing expectations, demands and needs of consumers and have had to enter into different quests. Due to the increasing competition conditions, companies have had to develop different strategies in both national and international markets in order to provide the competitive advantage in the retail sector, to maintain their assets and to increase their market share (Albayrak,2006). One of the strategies developed by the producers in response to the changing expectations, needs and demands of the consumers has been the private label branded product strategy.

The phenomenon of globalization, the development of technology and the spread of communication bring to reduce or eliminate the differences between private label products that meet similar needs. For this reason, the brand concept has become one of the most effective power for enterprises in order to achieve competitive advantage. In other words, businesses have had to bring their private label brands to the forefront in order to stimulate consumers' interest, desire and buying behaviors (Özgül, 2005). However, with the increasing number of brands, it is understood that the differentiation of the private label brands from only functional aspects is not enough. For this reason, in addition to the utilitarian functions of private label brands, marketing practitioners have also added a symbolic value to their private label brands. Therefore, differentiation and positioning strategies are now structured based on symbols, emotions or other meanings. This situation has led to the identification and differentiation of the private label brands by the consumers.

While brand represents product or service, it also provides information about the business through the eyes of the consumer. In addition to this, the brand reflects a certain personality and image about the product and the company. It is understood that the brand should have a meaning that is unique, the only choice for target consumers (Türkmendağ, 2015). For this reason, it has been important to be the only brand with the widest field in the product group. The brand personality that consumers perceive as brand oriented is an important competitive tool that businesses use to differentiate from other businesses and brands in the market. The brand personality also reflects the functional and physical characteristics of the product or service to the consumer. Nowadays, even when creating a new brand, the brand personality of the brand has started to be given special importance. Consumers link their own personality with the brand personality that they perceive for products or services. They try to portray themselves to the outside world by using the products or services of the brands that have the brand personality they see close to them. In this respect, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction that the person perceives because of consuming the product or service of the brand with which he has an emotional connection with the brand personality becomes stronger (Çetin, 2009). In line with this information, companies make a great effort to be the only brand that comes to mind in the purchasing decisions of consumers. One of the factors that will make a difference at this point is to load personality traits into brands like people.