The Relationship between Gender, Product Category and the Constructs of Private Label Brand Perception in Zimbabwe

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of gender and product category on the constructs of private label brand perception namely, perceived risk and quality. We hypothesized that gender had a significant relationship with private label brand perception and that the direction of the relationship differed depending on the construct in question. Data on private label brand perception was collected using a survey questionnaire from 43 respondents in Harare and Bulawayo. Information collected covered two product categories (tissue and rice). Simple linear regression was used to analyse data. The study generally illustrated that private label brand general perception, quality and value are lower for women compared to men and the perceived risk is higher, this was observed for both tissue and rice. While the trend for both product categories was similar in that women had a more negative perception towards private label brands the relationship was statistically significant for tissue and was not significant for rice. The specific construct which significantly varied in this regard was private label brand quality perception (pless than0.05) with women having a lower quality perception. It is likely that women used experience to visually determine product quality when shopping and this contributed to overcoming the reservations about rice and not about tissue. Retailers should invest in marketing of private label brands by developing marketing strategies which target women in the grocery sector. Sales of private label brands can be driven ensuring high quality of packaged products as a means to overcome the reservations of an experienced user that may initially be triggered by the unknown and or lower positioned brand name.