Private label goods rival name brands in attracting consumers - hardware brands at discount stores - Top Brands, part 2: Consumer Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 30, 1989

Private Label Goods Rival Name Brands in Attracting Consumers

Hardware consumers seem to be a fickle lot: they look for national brands more than ever before but increasingly prefer private label goods; more of them now will switch brands if the one they want is unavailable but still many will skip the purchase if they can't get a particular label.

Those are some of the results from DSN's 1989 Consumer Top Brands Survey.

Apparently, discount store shoppers looking for a hardware item are nearly as likely to seek out a private label brand as they are a national brand, according to this year's survey results.

In fact, when consumers were asked to name the merchandise categories in which they prefer private label merchandise to national brands, hardware topped the list, rising 16 percentage points from last year's consumer brands survey.

More than four out of 10 consumers said they prefer private label brands in hardware to national brands, indicating that discounters are succeeding with the imports they bring in as alternatives to the national labels. However, discounters have not been as successful at creating brand loyalty in hardware as they have been in other departments.

Despite these results, more consumers this year than in 1988 said they do have a brand preference in hardware. But, if that brand is not available to them, nearly half (45.7 percent) the consumers surveyed said they would skip the purchase, down 10 percentage points from a year ago.

However, consumers reported that when faced with buying the brand they prefer or foregoing the purchase entirely, if that brand is not available, more than half (54.3 percent) would simply switch to another brand.

Despite that, consumers report they are relatively confident they'll find the hardware brand they are looking for, although their confidence has waned a little from 1988.

On a scale of 1 to 9 - with one being the least confident and nine meaning total confidence - consumers awarded a 7.07 to the hardware department at discount stores, down from 7.19 a year ago.

This year, only five of last year's hardware brands reappeared on the 1989 consumer top 10 list.

Black & Decker and Stanley again topped the survey, although they switched positions from last year.

On the current survey, Black & Decker came out on top with Stanley in the No. 2 spot. In the store manager survey, Stanley garnered the most mentions with Black & Decker in the No. 2 position.

Although B&D was mentioned more often by consumers as the hardware label they look for most when making a hardware purchase, the elevation was due entirely to Target shoppers.

In addition, Target shoppers gave Stanley products its only increase in responses this year. K mart, Wal-Mart and Ames/Zayre shoppers all named Stanley less frequently this year than in 1988.

Conversely, Wal-Mart shoppers helped both hardware labels record substantial mention losses this year even though survey results show that when it comes to hardware, Wal-Mart shoppers are the most brand-conscious of customers at all four chains.

But Wal-Mart shoppers are also the most likely to prefer store brands or private label goods, survey results revealed.

Target, the only upscale discounter singled out in the survey, had the least brand-conscious shoppers in hardware goods and the customers with the least affinity for store brand/private label goods.

Aside from Black & Decker and Stanley in the one-two positions on the consumer top 10 brands list in hardware, General Electric returned in the No. 3 position. Glidden, No. 4 last year, was fifth on the current survey, and No. 5 Duracell, fell to seventh.

Dropped from the consumer top 10 brand list this year were Master Lock, Homelite, Olympic Paints, Red Devil and Yale. They were replaced by Dutch Boy, Lucite, Skil, Rubbermaid and DuPont.

Red Devil, Master Lock and Homelite were Nos. 11, 12, and 13, respectively, on the current survey. Olympic Paint was not mentioned by consumers as a sought-after hardware brand this year.

Overall, consumers and managers agreed on seven of the top 10 hardware labels.

Both agreed that Stanley, Black & Decker, General Electric, Skil, Lucite, Rubbermaid and Glidden were top 10 labels. But consumers added Duracell, Dutch Boy and DuPont to their list and store managers said Royal, Bull Dog and Great Neck were top hardware brands.

  Table :      Consumer Brand Preferences in Hardware
             Discounts                                   Ames/
Top Brands   Shoppers    K mart   Wal-Mart    Target     Zayre

Black &

  Decker     18.3%       16.9%    16.5%       19.6%      17.6%
Stanley      13.1        13.6      9.6        12.4       15.4

General

 Electric     6.6         6.6      5.2         9.3        7.7
Dutch Boy     4.2         4.1      2.6         4.1        2.2
Glidden       2.4         2.5      2.6         2.1        3.3
Lucite        1.0         1.2      1.7         2.1         -
Duracell      1.0         1.2      0.9         1.0        1.1
Skil          0.7         0.4       -          2.1         -
Rubbermaid    0.7         0.8      1.7          -         1.1
DuPont        0.3         0.4      0.9          -         1.1
  Table :              Top Hardware Brands:
                    Store Managers vs. Shoppers
  Managers                                Consumers
  Stanley                                Black & Decker
  Black & Decker                         Stanley
  General Electric                       General Electric
  Skil                                   Dutch Boy
  Lucite                                 Glidden
  Rubbermaid                             Lucite
  Royal                                  Duracell
  Bull Dog                               Skil
  Glidden                                Rubbermaid
  Great Neck                             DuPont