This study is part of a wider research project focused on the strategic role of the store brand in the competitive development of GDO food and no-food retailers, where networks of retailers are observed with the aim to analising the evolving tendencies and the marketing competencies of retailers. Particularly, starting from a review of the most important studies on this issue, the paper proposes an analysis of the actual status of the store brand, considering critic points both in national and international exchange and the strong innovating tensions characterizing the declination on the market of distributive formats and concepts in the competitive field. The aim of this research is defining strategies of competitive differentiation among retailers and new models of relation with the industrial system