Conventional wisdom holds that a great retail brand must present one face to the world—a consistent image that defines the product wherever consumers find it. But retail chains have found that although they can hang out their signs anywhere, consumers respond differently in every country. Understanding those differences is the key to building a successful retail brand across borders.
Our survey of 40 retail grocery and clothing brands in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom1 shows the importance of tailoring a product’s image to each national market. As retailers such as Aldi, Tesco, and Zara move into new territory, they may have to define themselves not once but many times over. Retailers that rely on a single brand formula can find themselves forced out of some markets, as Eddie Bauer, Marks & Spencer, and Wal-Mart can attest.
By comparing more than 1,500 consumers’ ratings of how well the stores performed with the store choices these consumers actually made, we found that what they say and what they do are not always identical. Customers tend, for example, to say that they don’t shop in particular stores because their friends do, but their friends’ shopping choices turn out to be...