Income inequality is a growing social issue in the United States, yet little research has examined whether and how it affects consumers’ everyday purchasing decisions. To address this gap, we analyze the role of income inequality in shopper behavior, namely grocery shoppers’ preference for private labels versus national brands. Since income inequality increases people’s interest in brands that are associated with higher status than others, we predict that shoppers facing higher inequality have a stronger preference for national brands rather than private labels. The results support our thesis: Americans living in places with high versus low income inequality include fewer private label items in their shopping baskets and are willing to pay a higher premium for national brands. Further, consistent with social comparison theory, we find that the link between income inequality and preference for private labels versus national brands is stronger when people have higher social comparison orientation.

收入不平等在美国是一个日益严重的社会问题，但很少有研究研究它是否以及如何影响消费者的日常购买决定。为了解决这一差距，我们分析了收入不平等在购物者行为中的作用，即杂货购物者对自有品牌与民族品牌的偏好。由于收入不平等增加了人们对地位高于其他品牌的兴趣，我们预测面临更高收入不平等的购物者更偏爱民族品牌而不是自有品牌。结果支持我们的论点：生活在高收入和低收入不平等地区的美国人在他们的购物篮中包括较少的自有品牌商品，并且愿意为民族品牌支付更高的溢价。此外，与社会比较理论一致，