Abstract:

In 1976 the first generic range was launched by Carrefour in France, since when the concept has been adopted in many parts of the world. Their penetration has varied considerably between countries, depending in part upon existing own label strength and the buying power of major retailers. Some generics, such as the Carrefour range, are a form of repositioned own labels; others, as is common is the U.S.A., represent a second private label for the retailer. The U.K. is now experiencing rapid developments of both types of generics.