The traditional big retail chain—like Walmart in the United States, Carrefour in France, and Kaufland in Germany—is a brand aggregator. It offers a range of branded products in multiple categories and provides information that allows consumers to make comparisons. Other retailers are more focused on particular categories—say, groceries, clothing, or furniture. Some branded goods manufacturers, such as Hugo Boss and Dyson, have successfully created their own stores to capture the trade of their loyalists. But single-brand stores tend not to be a good way to expand the customer base, at least not in the short term, so for product brands, selling via retail aggregators remains the dominant source of revenue.
A version of this article appeared in the September–October 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review.
