a five percent share of the ready-to-eat cereal market, makes most store-brand cereals sold in the United States. H. J. Heinz is the largest supplier of private-label canned soup. For Ralston Purina, the result is an increase of three percentage points in market share, and a reluctance of a major competitor, Kellogg, to increase prices. For Ralston Purina, the move to private label provides it with additional revenue and market share that it would otherwise not have, and so it helps the company compete effectively in the marketplace.
One of the reasons that private label brands are available for less than their national brand competition is that private labels receive very little marketing support. Outside of in-store promotions, there is little advertising which encourages the brand. This is in contrast to the high maintenance required by national brands and the image that they seek to establish, maintain and protect. To this end, national brand manufacturers often are in the position of providing marketing support for a given industry segment as a whole. Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark find themselves in this position when they produce advertisements for their disposable diapers. When these products first became widely available, the large national brand manufacturers introduced the product to the market; price sensitive shoppers were able to try private label brands which were less expensive, but which benefited from the national c
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