What are Hybrid Label Brands?
A Hybrid Label Brand (HLB) is a retailer-owned brand sold by a different retailer in a market where the brand-owning retailer has no physical or digital retail presence. The brand owner and the retailer selling it are two different businesses.
The distinction, at a glance
| National Brand (NB) | Private Label Brand (PLB) | Hybrid Label Brand (HLB) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns it? | A manufacturer | A retailer | A retailer |
| Who sells it? | Retailers that stock the brand | Normally the retailer that owns it | A different retailer in a market where the owner has no retail presence |
| Example in the research | Coca-Cola | AlphaMega own-brand products | Casino products sold by AlphaMega in Cyprus |
Why is it different?
A National Brand can be sold through many retailers. A conventional Private Label Brand belongs to a retailer and is normally sold in that retailer’s own stores. An HLB also belongs to a retailer, but reaches shoppers through a separate retail business. The brand owner’s store is absent from that market.
In the Cyprus setting examined in the doctoral research, AlphaMega sold Casino-branded products while Casino did not operate stores in Cyprus. The example illustrates the separation between the retailer that owns the brand and the retailer where the shopper encounters it.
These are examples from the research, not a statement about current product availability.
Why does it matter?
Without the brand owner’s familiar store, shoppers must decide whether to trust a product using other clues. The company behind the brand, the selling retailer, price, origin, product category and previous experience can all shape that judgement.
The concept offers a way to study how retailer-owned brands travel beyond their original retail network and how consumers evaluate them in a new market.
Evangelides, P.-F. (2026). The Hybrid Label Brand: An investigation into how it can enhance firm performance in an exporting context. PhD thesis, University of Strathclyde.
The official thesis link will be added when available. Dr Panagiotis Evangelides on ORCID ↗