ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the comparative retailing structures of Britain and United States, followed by case studies of introduction of own brands at Sainsbury's and Shaw's in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The most important difference between multiple food retailing in Britain and the United States is the relative significance in each country of own brand. In the United States private labels of all kinds, including own brands, have been dogged by their 'cheap' image. The permissive nature of British Resale Price Maintenance is contrasted with the compulsion of the US Robinson-Patman Act to assess the respective fortunes of packaged own brand groceries. The reintroduction of Shaw's own brand, following the company's acquisition by Sainsbury's in 1987, is then used to challenge the view of branding as a simple marketing device. The difference between Sainsbury's experience and Shaw's is that the former has never broken the ties which it established early in its history between its corporate images.
