Private Label Brands (PLBs) (retailers brand, store or in-house brands) are brands introduced by power retailers under their own brand name. E.g., Big Bazaar’s major private brands are DreamLine, Kryo, Premium Harvest, Tasty Treat, Clean Mate and Care Mate which account for 20% of their food category. Similarly, Reliance Retail, Vishal Megha Mart and globally, WalMart, Carrefour, etc., have their own private brands for different strategic reasons. The first paper titled, “Perceptions and Buyer Behavior Towards Private-Label Colas: An Exploratory Study to Understand the Views of the Store Managers of United Kingdom”, by Samrat Chakraborty, describes the growth of private labels in the retail sector. They have been trying to expand the product range, improve quality and offer reasonable prices with wider distribution network. Among them, the private label cola is the one that has been sold on a huge volume by a big retailer in the United Kingdom. In spite of the growth of private label colas, premium colas have a great brand image. The author tries to explore the customers’ general perceptions and buyer behavior of private-label colas in UK retail market. The information was collected from store-managers of four big selected retailers of UK (having their own private-label colas) through interviews.

The second paper titled, “A Comparative Study on Consumers’ Attitude Towards Private Labels: A Focus on Gujarat”, by Amit R Pandya and Monarch A Joshi, focuses on comparing customers’ attitude towards PLBSs with the national label brands on selected attributes—quality, price, risk, packaging and image across two product categories—consumer durables and personal care products. The study was conducted in two urban centers in Gujarat. The findings of the study will help the retailers in developing stronger PLBSs and increase their presence and acceptance amongst customers.

The third paper titled, “ECRM Using Online Communities”, by Shirin Alavi, Vandana Ahuja and Y Medury, focuses on how certain Telecom companies can use specific attributes on their websites to cater to the customer relationship management functions in an organization. Earlier studies have revealed that by increasing customer retention levels, profitability also increases. In this era where online access provides consumers a variety of choices, it is important for organizations to retain their consumers and meet their expectations. Hence, electronic media is a tool for marketing and fostering consumer relationship. Choosing right combination of structural features online will be the right strategy for any organization to achieve their goal.

In the fourth paper titled, “TV Viewing Habits Amongst Urban Children”, the authors Amardeep Kaur Ahluwalia and Raghbir Singh have analyzed and discussed about the frequency of watching TV, persons accompanying children while watching TV, frequency of discussion about TV and its programs by parents with children, reasons for watching TV and preference for watching different TV programs. A survey was conducted to know the TV viewing patterns among children. A sample of 400 children of 8 to 16 years of age group was selected from different cities of Punjab. It was found that on an average, children watch two hours or less of TV daily and watched primarily for entertainment and learning. Children prefer to watch children’s shows/serials, followed by cartoon/animated programs.

The fifth paper is a case study, “Bajaj Auto: From Chetak to Pulsar and Beyond”, by Harish R. It is based on the business and marketing strategies followed by Bajaj Auto Ltd. over the past five decades.

Finally, we have a book review by J Venkataraman on Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis, authored by Barbara A Carkenord.

-- B Shafiulla
Consulting Editor