The Progression of Sustainable Private Label Marketing: A Literature Review of Past Achievements and Future Promises

This study aims to provide a better understanding of research constituents, and intellectual and cognitive structures of sustainable private label (PL) marketing research field. Employing bibliometric analysis methods like performance analysis and science mapping (specifically bibliographic coupling and co-word analyses), this investigation scrutinizes 142 articles from the Scopus database using VOSviewer software. The study highlights a surge in research activity, primarily from the United States, Spain, and United Kingdom, and identifies five key research topics: (i) Corporate Social Responsibility Communication of Private Label (PL) Brands, (ii) Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Private Labels Products, (iii) Consumers’ Perceptions on Sustainable Private Label Products and Sales Mode Selection, (iv) Sustainable Private Label Products as a Source of Competitive Advantage, and (v) Sustainability Commitments of Private Label brands to Public Health. Additionally, it offers insights into future research directions on topics related to store equity of PL brands, store loyalty, e-tailing of PL products, and economic sustainability of PL products. Notably, this pioneering work synthesizes sustainable private label marketing using a novel amalgamation of bibliometric techniques, significantly advancing theoretical and practical understanding in the field.