Problem
Read the H-E-B case. You have been hired as a consultant by H-E-B, a regional supermarket chain, to analyze the role of their private labels and national brands for the company and how should the company react to competitive pressures. In particular, should the H-E-B Own Brands be scaled up as a premium brand or scaled down to compete with Walmart as a decent quality brand.
a) What roles do the national brands and the two tiers of H-E-B brands - the premium and low-priced private labels play for HEB?
b) How should the Own Brands respond to competitive price promotions? When should they follow? What about promotions for national brands?
c) How should H-E-B position its private label brands with respect to other brands in the category?
d) What changes, if any, would you make to the upstream and downstream channel structure for H-E-B's private label brands?