arbiter
JournalsAccount

The brand-equity implications of selling through hard discounters

Joep van der Plas et al.

International Journal of Research in Marketing2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2026.01.005article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The rising popularity of hard discounters, along with their increased willingness to add national brands to their assortments, presents new opportunities for brand manufacturers. While expanding into the hard-discount format may increase national brands’ distribution coverage and thereby enhance their equity, several brand managers remain reluctant to sell through this more down-market format, fearing a loss of image. Using an empirics-first approach, the authors study the effect of hard discounters’ national-brand listings on brand equity. They empirically test a rich contingency framework and find that the brand-equity impact is highly dependent on various category characteristics. Specifically, the effects are more auspicious in less utilitarian categories, and in categories characterized by higher purchase frequency and lower household penetration. The authors further find that approximately one-tenth of the nearly 150 brand listings studied had adverse brand-equity implications. At the same time, among the brands that refrained from being distributed through hard discounters, 80% appear to have foregone an opportunity to increase their equity. The authors conclude with actionable guidelines to mitigate both types of error

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2026.01.005

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{joep2026,
  title        = {{The brand-equity implications of selling through hard discounters}},
  author       = {Joep van der Plas et al.},
  journal      = {International Journal of Research in Marketing},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2026.01.005},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The brand-equity implications of selling through hard discounters

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.