Branding and its consequences for German agribusiness

Abstract

Today there is a clear consensus that customer orientation is a competitive necessity in order to survive in a market. In this article, the authors will analyze questions addressing brand management, especially the activities of retailers who are developing their own brands. As evidenced by the steady increase in market share for retail brands, nowadays consumers see little significant difference between retail brands and processor brands. Being the trustee of credence characteristics of food items, brands have to guarantee the correctness of their products throughout the whole food supply chain. In order to ensure this, vertical coordination mechanisms have to be installed. This is leading to competition among retail chains in the area of vertical coordination to ensure quality and to build brand equity. [EconLit citations: L220, L660, Q130.] © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 21: 177-189, 2005.

Strategic Management of Agribusiness: Determinants and Trends

“…"Low cost" is a type of branding strategy that does not mean low quality' (M1), 'A brand can represent a company's image, providing a quality guarantee to its consumers' (M5), and 'I have tried to establish a standard tea taste, which is my branding strategy, and then I can position my products at specific consumption levels' (M7). This result echoed prior research (e.g., Hanf & Kühl, 2005), indicating that agribusiness branding is a shaping process based on product quality and market niche that must be continually invested in and carefully maintained.…”

“…Third, to these agrientrepreneurs, product differentiation, local attributes, branding maintenance, designing participative experiences, and environmental friendliness were essential marketing strategies. Although prior research (e.g., Hanf & Kühl, 2005) has demonstrated the crucial role of vertical coordination in marketing plans, the participants in this study did not emphasise this role. This was possibly because these production-oriented participants did not thoroughly engage in the marketing planning process.…”

“…A well-balanced marketing plan emphasises overall superiority, and must be designed for both retailers and consumers (Hsu & Wann, 2004). Vertical coordination mechanisms must be installed in the marketing plan, leading to competition among retail chains and thus ensuring quality and building brand equity (Hanf & Kühl, 2005). Moreover, prior research has indicated that store atmosphere, customer service, and product quality are the main marketing factors that influence customer satisfaction regarding agrifood retailing (Lülfs-Baden, Spiller, Zühlsdorf & Mellin, 2008).…”

Exploring the Effects of Brand Promotion and Brand Image Perception on Business Outcomes of Small-sized Agribusiness Firms

“…The branding concept is obviously one of the viable pathways that small businesses, especially small-sized agribusiness fi rms could adopt in order to survive and grow to their 'full' market potential amid an increasingly volatile business environment (Boomsma and Arnoldus, 2008;Hanf and Kuhl, 2005;Minten et al, 2013). While it is true that a brand or the branding process could be best described as a multidimensional marketing construct (Kapferer, 2008;de Chernatony and Dall'Olmo Riley, 1998), the major essence of branding per se, is to distinguish an entity (e.g., a fi rm), product and/ or service from the rest of the competition (Aaker, 1996;Urde et al, 2013;Osakwe et al, 2015a).…”

A Study on Creating Agriculture International Brands by Industrialization: The Case of “Guanxi Pomelo” in China

“…Branding functions as an entry barrier (Hanf & Kühl, 2005). But small-scale farmers have much difficulity to promote branding to enter the international market, except the highly-organized enterprise groups with international competitiveness (Cai, 2011).…”