Private-label brands are the brain child of retailers. These products are fully owned, controlled and sold exclusively by the retailers, and can be found across all the product categories. The private-label cola (carbonated soft drinks) is one such type of product that has been manufactured and sold by some big retailers of UK. These colas are priced very low compared to premium colas and do posses a huge resemblance to the premium ones. In recent years, these colas have been flooded across the respective retail stores, the sales volume has gone up, giving a tough competition to premium brands (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) in the carbonated soft drinks sector. In spite of the growing popularity of these colas, premium ones still do have a great brand image in market compared to their private-label counterparts. Earlier research studies have revealed that both attitudes and perceptions play an important role in building the image of a product. Moreover, they play a crucial role in customer buying behavior process. This paper tries to explore the general perceptions, and subsequently the buyer behavior about private-label colas in the UK retail market. The study, which is based on qualitative research methodology, focuses on a series of in-depth interviews of the store-managers of four big selected retailers of UK (having their own private-label colas), in order to meet the above mentioned research objectives.

Brand image is considered to be an important element of branding theory and plays an important role in the brand building process. Several brands do have great brand image and have maintained it over the years. These successful brands have been carefully developed by the marketers and have been nurtured against all odds. As a result, these brands do occupy a prominent position in the customers' minds, accompanied by a high level of loyalty and enjoy a considerable trust among customers and channel members.

The birth of retailer's own private-label brands is a major landmark in the history of retailing. According to De Charnatony and McDonald (2003), the changing nature and popularity of retailing in the 19^th century was the main reason for growth of this new concept. Subsequently, due to the rise of private-label brands, branding in retail sector has also taken a new shape and significance (Gilbert, 2002). This became increasingly apparent as more retailers have been launching a wide range of products, improving quality standards, offering reasonable prices, implementing effective promotional strategies and using bigger distribution networks.

UK has been one of the most advanced and concentrated retail market with a total retail sales-value of over £285 bn in the year 2009 (British Retail Consortium Annual Review, 2010). The retail sector generates 8% of the total GDP of the country and is set to increase in size by 1.5% annually—taking its value to about £312 bn by the end of 2015. Moreover, UK is also the leading private-label market (Table 1) among the European nations (Just Food Report, 2006). It has been a pioneer in selling private-label goods in a variety of retail stores and major supermarkets across the country.

Marketing Management Journal, Private-Label Colas, UK Retail Market, Carbonated Soft Drinks Sector, Buying Behavior Process, Brand Building Process, Grocery Market, US Supermarkets, Decision Making Process, Distribution Networks, Brand Awareness, Qualitative Research Methodology, Electronic Media.