Manufacturer's Brand and Private Label"To survive in such a competitive market, companies must build brands that create strong differentiation in the marketplace, attract customers with a credible value proposition, and engage customers in ways that endear them to the brand and the company,” said brand guru Martin Roll. These words encapsulate the entire ethos behind investing in branding. Manufacturers, with their financial prowess, invest huge amounts of money to make their brand visible to consumers compared to its competitors. This huge spend, if successful, could ensure a strong brand and loyal customer base. Successful retailers have taken inspiration from the success of manufacturers and invented products using their own brand. This was ensured by outsourcing the production activities of their products to other manufacturers. This naturally left retailers to focus more on marketing their products and developing their brands rather than focusing on manufacturing. These brands made by retailers were known as private labels. Retailer brands gained prominence after the entry of discount stores such as Kmart and Wal-Mart in the 1960s. Retailer brands further improved their market share during recessionary periods, when consumers sought lower-priced private brands. But in the 1980s, private labels were a force to be reckoned with. Private brands were traditionally defined as generic product offerings that competed with national brand counterparts by means of a value-for-money proposition. Often the lower-priced alternative to the "real" item, private label or store brands, carried the stigma of lower quality and therefore inspired less trust. Yet if... middle of paper... occupy more than that, consumers feel there aren't enough choices. In countries like Switzerland and the UK, private labels have reached this limit and these markets have become saturated. But they will continue to grow in other countries until they reach the same level. In many cases, private label brands have surpassed a national brand's ability to deliver visibility, consumer interest, engagement and appeal. Proprietary brand decision makers are often able to impose near-par or parity prices for their products, without articulating cost as a differentiating factor. This represents a departure from the past: today's proprietary brands are recognized as having the ability to transcend the negative baggage and problems of traditional store brands, thereby creating unique and resonant benefit propositions for consumers..