Positioning strategies of retailers’ brands in the emerging market – a cluster analysis

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify and profile clusters of retailers operating in emerging markets, in terms of positioning strategies of their own brands (based on the example of the Polish market). Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on a random sample of 143 medium and large retailers operating in Poland. The data were collected using a CATI method at the end of 2014 and then analyzed with the use of hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods. Findings - With the use of cluster analysis, six clusters of retailers were identified. Members of each cluster refer to different predominant factors when positioning their own brands. Members of each cluster do not differ significantly in terms of descriptive variables (exogenous to the cluster analysis) being used for profiling clusters. Research limitations/implications - In this study, only retailers operating in Poland were surveyed. This study does not refer to the targeting strategies, which may be analyzed jointly with the positioning strategies of retailers’ brands. Practical implications - The paper has implications in understanding the approaches to the retailer brand positioning representing by the identified clusters of retailers that might be a basis for the creation of the retailers’ competitive advantages. Originality/value - The main contribution of this research lies in the clustering approach to segmenting retailers in terms of their own brands’ positioning strategies and identifying clusters of retailers in the Polish market due to the retailer brands’ positioning.