The role of retailers during brand scandals: insights from a case study

The role of retailers in influencing consumer attitude during a brand scandal is quite complex as retailers are in direct contact with both marketers and consumers. The purpose of this exploratory research is to propose a theoretical model to capture the influences retailers exercise on consumers during brand scandals. A qualitative approach has been adopted in this study. The study employs the grounded theory approach on the data collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 25 retailers. Four contextual conditions and six behavioral antecedents of the retailer’s role in the context of the brand scandal were identified. Then, this study finds that companies tend to follow two broad approaches during a brand scandal to address retailers’ queries and apprehensions. On these bases, the study proposes a six-pronged typology to better understand retailers’ role in shaping consumers’ brand perception. Existing literature has not paid adequate attention to this aspect of retailers’ role in influencing consumer choices during brand scandal. To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior research which investigates the role and influence of retailers in shaping consumer attitude during brand scandals. It is important to underline that this research advocates retailers' significant role during a performance-based brand scandal. Specifically, we explored a health-related defective scandal of a well-known food brand. In addition, this study focuses on traditional grocery retailers, that already have special relationships with their consumers. Based on retailer perspectives, our contribution is also updating the discussion of branding theory in case of scandals. The identified variables and constructs may be used for empirical investigation on the role of retailers in shaping consumer attitudes towards the scandalized brand.