Selecting a Topic

select your own topic of interest through:

 brainstorm for ideas

 choose a topic that will enable you to read and understand the literature
 ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is available
 keep track of the key words which are useful for your topic
 be flexible
 define your topic as a focused research question
 research and read more about your topic
 formulate a thesis statement

It must be narrow and focused enough to be interesting, yet broad enough to find adequate
information. You must know what your final project should look like. The title of your paper
may not be exactly the same as your research question or your thesis statement, but the title
should clearly convey the focus, purpose and meaning of your research.

There are five key steps of how to write a literature review:

Search for relevant literature

Evaluate sources
Identify themes, debates and gaps
Outline the structure
Write your literature review

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high
citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be
included in your literature review.

Keywords:

Meme
Meme culture

_________
Why do meme matters?

Meme’s define how we experience pop culture, being used in advertisement, and defining our
political movement.

Memes are at their core an inside joke. They are an reference that an in group gets and an out
group doesn’t get.

Memes are fast. They don’t repeat more than a day or a week.
Memes have become very essential part of how we communicate and as a result of that there
is business to be made out of doing them really well.
You are not gonna catch someone’s eyes with a news article, like “Oh, this, that.” But you
will catch someone’s eye with a popular meme format. IT says we are all alike in the ways
we don’t realize.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJZA86dPEo

Reading suggestions:

Wired article- Meme counter-meme (Mike Godwin)

Witney Phillps (The ambivalent internet)

Know your meme

news organisations are struggling to remain relevant to a generation that has grown up with
the distractions and diversions of digital media.

This research sets out to answer two key questions:

— How do young people consume news?

— How can news publishers attract young readers, listeners and viewers?

the type of formats that appeal to younger audiences

Methods:
The methodologies chosen, which include tracking the digital footprints of 20 respondents
along with diaries and interviews, have helped to uncover some of the core needs of younger
groups around news, as well us some of the frustrations with the approaches taken by
mainstream media.

News media is now competing for attention with myriad other distractions, and there
is a high level of ‘background’ or ‘indirect’ exposure to news (through social media,
other online conversations, documentaries and TV shows, etc.).

Previous studies highlight the role that family background, socioeconomic status and
parents’ news consumption habits all play in forming an individual’s news
engagement1

Influencer Marketing

1) How cultural norms play into people’s purchasing decision

Moving beyond the surface level demographic view of the customers and dig deeper to
understand consumers on a human level.

2) Is humour the most effective approach of advertising

3) A behavioural study on millennial consumers’ intention to purchase luxury goods.

4) Is price appeal an effective way to build a brand in FMCG category?

Private labelling

Is private labelling bad news for international/national brands in India

Private labelling changing the retail game in India
Private Labels are the most needed piece in the retail market

In India retail stores are dominated by big conglomerates like P&G, Unilever, Mondelez and
many more. Breaking this chain online stores like Big Basket and grocery have started their
own private labelling.
- People are obsessed with branded products

Product placement in movies

Private labelling
Impact of advertising on impulsive buying
How effective is comparison advertising to build brand equity
Humor in advertising
Cloud kitchen

The influence of alcoholic digital brand advertising on consumer behaviour.

Alcoholic advertising is banned to promote on traditional media. However, many influencers are
promoting the same on their personal handle. So, i want to understand if there is any impact of
the same on buying behaviour of alcoholic among young consumers.

How effective is comparison advertising to build brand equity?

I want to research on how brands are belittling or using some negative aspects of their
competitors to make their brand superior. Also, what consumer think of such ads.

Q- will it be measurable and what kind of audience will I be targeting?

Consumer’s brand decision on purchase of FMCG in India: Private labels v/s National brands

The impact of private label on consumer purchase decision of FMCG in India

Consumer behaviour on purchase of private labels for FMCG in India.

We propose to analyze the determinants of consumers’ brand decision within a

retailer store using a multinomial mixed logit approach. For the consumers’ choice, national
brands compete with private labels (both me-too product and high quality store brand). We
first find that the standard private label (me-too), independently of the price effect, performs
better than all national brands in terms of consumers’ utility. Second, the high-quality private
label does not reach its target yet in term of consumers’ acceptance due to a poor product
characteristics perception. Last, it appears that households’ objective socioeconomic
variables (income, education and household size) do not play any role in private label
perception, whereas objective consumption behaviour (store loyalty) clearly favours store
brand perception. We find that consumers have a lower private label demand elasticity than
the low store loyal ones.

The relationships among store image, familiarity with PLBs, consumers’

perceptions of PLB quality, risk, price consciousness and attitude towards
PLBs are examined. Finally, the relationship between attitude towards, and
willingness to buy PLB is explored.

Topic
Intro (1 page)
Objectives
Rational about why this topic
Research gap (1-2 lines)

References

The paper then developed a research model from the literature review and
used structural equation modeling to analyze the data.
Research Design
Sampling Plan
Describe sample size
Participant Planning
Discussion Guide (Research Questions)

Research Tools
FGD, Depth Interview, Ethnography, mixed method, etc.

Literature Review

Major finding
Their sample size and method (who was their sample in general)
1 line of intro and how this will help in my research

200-300 words
10 papers

Look for
Trends and patterns
Themes
Debates and contributions
Influential study
Gaps

Intro (focus and purpose of the review)

Many studies have focused on the problem of ….

Mainbody
Conclusion

https://hbr.org/1996/01/brands-versus-private-labels-fighting-to-win

how likely are you to recommend the same to your friends and colleagues?
Whether you have purchased store name product from big basket, dmart or
grofers?
Which one is your preferred store?
Can you distinguish …brand product from other brands available at the
point of sale.

Previously, retailers used to strategize their store brand sales based solely on price without
paying enough attention to the quality. However, it has changed over the period of time.
Retailors has realised that quality store brands are the driving mechanism to generate store
loyalty and differentiation (Corstjens and Lal, 2000). Moving on, this paper signifies the
important of developing consumer loyalty to private label brands.

The study by Huddleston defines customer loyalty as the robust relationship between
customer and retailer which enables the consumer to visit the store again and again so that
they don’t feel as if they are missing something good if they go to another store. (Huddleston
et al., 2004). Further the paper has defined attitudinal loyalty which captures the affective and
cognitive aspects of brand loyalty. This concept will help in defining and understanding
sample study’s certain behaviour like their likelihood of repeat purchase or of recommending
the PLB to their friends and colleagues.

Moreover, in retailing, interpersonal relationships exist between customers and salesperson,

However, customers also establish a bond with particular store and the brands they stock. The
consumers prefer to buy certain products specific to certain stores not because of their loyalty
to the brand but they are conditioned to look for deals in certain categories (AC Nielsen,
1992).

In view of is
is and Kusum (1992) and Johnson (1999) retailers cannot push store labels too much at the
expense of national brands as these brands are the major driving force of the consumer and
reducing them might make the store less attractive to the shoppers.

The study finds that PLB for supermarkets impact consumer behaviour. If they are satisfied
with the product, they must return to make a repurchase. Hence, the store brand would
perform its best with a number of regular customers on its side.

Sansone, M., Musso, F., Colamatteo, A. and Pagnanelli, M.A. (2021),

"Factors affecting the purchase of private label food products", British Food
Journal, Vol. 123 No. 3, pp. 1207-1222. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-01-
2020-0048

Huddleston, P., Whipple, J. and Van Auken, A. (2004), “Food store loyalty: application of a
consumer loyalty framework”, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for
Marketing, Vol. 12, pp. 213-30.

Corstjens, M. and Lal, R. (2000), “Building store loyalty through store brands”, Journal of

Marketing Research, Vol. 37, pp. 281-91.

Ailawadi, Kusum & Harlam, Bari. (2002). The Effect of Store Brand Share
on Retail Margins: An Empirical Analysis. SSRN Electronic Journal.
10.2139/ssrn.299951.

This paper helped in understanding the past and current trends in private label category. An
interesting concept of the wheel of retailing is described. It is a phenomenon in which retail
stores forms a cyclical pattern of ever-increasing expansion in services and facilities as and
when they reach a certain level of maturity. They then enter as lower cost and margin
operator and become vulnerable to new retail entrant. For instance, firstly they were
competing with small retailers and after growing to a certain position in the marketplace, they
become vulnerable to discount houses and supermarkets. Hence, this paper aims to determine
the extent and nature of private label strategy to analyse the possible existence of such wheel
pattern.

Similar trend has been observed by Halstead, Ward (1995), some private label manufacturers
are expanding their offerings, shifting their focus on improving quality, packaging and
distribution from lower prices.

Halstead, D. and Ward, C.B. (1995), "Assessing the vulnerability of private

label brands", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp.
38-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610429510097636

The private labels earn high margins led them to aggressively invest in promotions of their
store brand to compete with national brands. This has force established brands to scale their
media investment to stay relevant and safeguard their brand’s share of voice in the society.
Moreover, during the pandemic, huge consumer demand of essential goods from online
platforms has helped companies like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, JioMart and Grofers to
push their private labels with the intention to offer a wider selection of products at
competitive prices and establish their own brand name in the market (Kartik Iyer, 2021).

https://www.warc.com/content/article/warc-exclusive/after-2020-whats-next-for-indias-e-
commerce-scene/136395

over the time, the literature proposed

This paper aims to analyse and test a framework on the factors affecting the choice of private
label food products by consumers. This study will help the researcher to understand the
variables used in another market in evaluation of consumer’s decision to buy private label
brands. These factors are as follow: quality, price, quality-price ratio, sales promotion,
packaging, Store assortment, visual merchandising, similarity with national brand,
communication and advertising, customer satisfaction, store loyalty, availability of alternative
packaging and formats, health and taste. The result reveals that quality has more relevance in
the Italian market. Moreover, the retailer’s influence is greater for their store brand products
as consumer tend to choose familiar brands, making the familiarity a key variable in the
purchase decision making. Moreover, similarity with national brands (mostly counterfeit
products) also has a positive effect on the frequency of purchase, however it works only for
retailers who don’t have well-known store brand name.
Moreover, a study by Jin and Gu Suh (2005), classified the influencing factors into three
categories: consumer’s socio-economic conditions, value of product and opportunity for
smart shopping.

Nielsen, A.C. (2014), “The state of private label around the world”, available at:
www.nielsen.com/ content/dam/nielsenglobal/kr/docs/globalreport/2014/Nielsen%20Global
%20Private%20Label %20Report%20November%202014.pdf

The objective of this research is to analyse the relationship of consumer’s willingness to buy private label
brands and factors like store image, familiarity with PLBs, value of money, price consciousness attitude
and quality affecting the decision. This study is surveyed with Egyptian respondents and researcher found
attributes similar with Indian consumers. They study shows majority of the respondents are willing to pay
extra price for a manufacture known brand, holds loyalty towards known brands, and believes that PLB
don’t represent a suitable choice, and trying out new brands comes with the risk of losing money. Hence,
the Nielsen survey found that consumer’s perceptual factors for quality and price are leading to slow
growth of PLB in Egypt. Moreover, they are willing to incur neither physical risk of trying PLB which
might not be up to their expected quality nor financial risk (Nielsen, 2014). Hence, PLBs are competing
with national brands on quality front with lower prices (Lymperopoulos et al., 2010).

Moreover, the consumer behaviour literature has widely established relationship between consumer
perception and attitude. Owing to this, recent study has constantly shown significant positive impact on
consumer attitude (Lin et al., 2009; Bao et al., 2011).

Mostafa, R.H.A. and Elseidi, R.I. (2018), "Factors affecting consumers’

willingness to buy private label brands (PLBs): Applied study on
hypermarkets", Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp.
338-358. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-07-2018-0034

Lymperopoulos, C., Chaniotakis, I.E. and Rigopoulou, I.D. (2010), “Acceptance of detergent- retail
brands: the role of consumer confidence and trust”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution
Management, Vol. 38 No. 9, pp. 719-736.

Lin, C., Marshall, D. and Dawson, J. (2009), “Consumer attitudes towards a european retailer’s private
Brand food products: an integrated model of taiwanese consumers”, Journal of Marketing Management,
Vol. 25 Nos 9/10, pp. 875-891.

Bao, Y., Bao, Y. and Sheng, S. (2011), “Motivating purchase of private brands: Effects of store image,
product signatureness, and quality variation”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 64 No. 2, pp. 220-226.

Retail industry is bombing in India by 10% CAGR as consumer’s disposable income is increasing, and
their lifestyle is changing. In India, PLBs in retail market is around 7% which is anticipated to grow by
27% in next years. Consumers come to retail stores because of huge inventory and variety of available
brands and products and finally purchase private label products if they find it cheaper and better quality.
The study (Singh, Gupta, 2018) is based on exploration of the key factors which effect the consumer
purchase decision of private label brands. The factors studied are as follow price, quality, store image,
store loyalty on PLB purchase.

When it comes to customer buying behaviour, attitude is an important factor for positive purchase
decision.
It not impacts the relationship of producers and retailers but also the competition between retailers.

Another study found a strong relationship between variables of brand image and PLB purchase decision,
followed by price consciousness, quality variability and store image.

Singh, Ajay & Gupta, R. & Kumar, A.. (2018). Consumer purchase decision towards private
label brands: Evidence from the Indian market. International Journal of Supply Chain
Management. 7. 84-93.

Retail managers should focus on the enhancement of both store image and familiarity with PLBs to
leverage consumers’ perceptions with respect to PLBs quality and risk to achieve differentiation and to
increase sales.

Martineau defined store image as “The store personality or image – the way in which
the store is defined in the shopper’s mind, partly by its functional qualities and partly
by an aura of psychological attributes” (p. 47).