The importance of labelling has been considerably increasing over recent years. This study analyses two main topics. The first one (chapters 1 and 2) regards Private Labels (PLs), while the second concerns Geographical Indications (GIs) and “Made-in” power (Chapter 3).\ud
Private Labels make up a significant share of market and have a wide offering, both in terms of different segments and number of products within each segment. PLs represent a strategic tool in the power balance between manufacturers and retailers. The relations between mass retail chains and suppliers/manufacturers are quite complex and involve economic, managerial and competition based issues. Among several strategies, we identify promotion as a crucial one. Promotional strategies have been changing over the last decade. Our study highlights the existence of a new defensive and supporting strategy. It can be considered a defensive strategy as its main task is to maintain the market share of PLs against NBs, while it can also be regarded as supporting in nature because it supports the introduction and penetration of premium (or organic) PLs, since directly promoting premium PLs using an offensive promotion strategy would lead to undesirable effects in terms of product perception and consumer behaviour. To test our hypothesis and reach our conclusion we perform several empirical analyses on a unique dataset provided by a leading retailer with stores in central Italy. Geographical Indications and “Made-in” labels constitute a valuable resource for companies and, more in general, countries and industries that have distinctive features in terms of quality, knowledge, traditions and excellence. Developing a mixed-method approach, the third chapter analyses GIs and “Made-in” power, initially through quantitative analyses on global trade and the behaviour of major countries. Then it individuates, through a proposed replicable method, the anomalies and the existence of a possible kind of arbitrage from companies of countries with high “Made-in” power and a favourable Export-Import price differential. In the second part of our study, we focus our attention on an analysis of Italy (a major hub in worldwide trade, with a significant “Made-in” power) and on a specific case study (i.e. the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP). For their special characteristics, which fit perfectly with the aim of our research (i.e. perishability and absence of significant value added), we chose two types of edible wild mushrooms and truffles (i.e. fresh/frozen and fried/powdered) to perform our analyses and to examine a focus country and an example of a GI (i.e. Fungo di Borgotaro IGP)