In the old days, black and white stenciled labels clearly marked generic brands. Those days are gone. Today many private-label
goods are more sophisticated than their competitors’ parallel products. The growing popularity of private brands has changed the branding,
retailing and product
development marketplace, which was already shifting in response to globalization, faster trend development and advanced consumerism. Nirmalya Kumar and Jan-Benedict E. M. Steenkamp have a solid understanding of these developments. They buttress their explanations with interesting case studies from leading merchants and manufacturers. Retailing is an exciting business, and the authors bring forward the right mix of research and specifics to make a lively case for private labels. getAbstract recommends this to anyone seriously interested in retailing, the changing shape of consumer society and, of course, shopping.