Understanding price premium for grocery products: a conceptual model of customer‐based brand equity

Purpose – This paper seeks to develop a framework for understanding what drives customer‐based brand equity and price premium for grocery products. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews empirical studies made within the area of brand equity and studies of grocery products. It compares and analyses the results from an explorative and qualitative field study with previous research on brand equity and food quality. Findings – The study finds that brand equity and price premium focusing on the grocery sector specifically highlights the role of uniqueness, together with the four traditionally basic dimensions of brand equity proposed: awareness, qualities, associations and loyalty. Relevant brand associations (origin, health, environment/animal friendliness, organisational associations and social image), and quality attributes (taste, odour, consistency/texture, appearance, function, packaging and ingredients) specific to groceries are identified and proposed for future measurement scales and model validating research. Practical implications – The development of a customer‐based brand equity model, that adds awareness, associations and loyalty to previous discussions on price and quality, brings to the table a more nuanced and multi‐faced tool for marketing of consumer packaged food. Originality/value – The paper provides a framework for understanding, evaluating, measuring and managing brand equity for grocery products. As this paper presents the first conceptual brand equity framework for groceries, there is a contribution to research on food branding. Also, there is a contribution to the general field of brand equity as previous models have been very general.