Enhancing food promotion in the supermarket industry

Abstract

Increases in trade and consumer promotion, and the introduction (and prevalence) of store brands, are all indicators of the importance of sales promotion to both retailers and manufacturers in the food industry. Recent research has examined more closely the effects of switching, stockpiling and patterns of consumption of food products on sales promotion use and effectiveness, and has given support to the assertion that the shortterm effect of consumer-directed promotions on sales of food is both positive and substantial. Most research into the supermarket industry suggests, however, that retailers and manufacturers may not be optimising their marketing mix decisions and years of acrimonious relationships and distrust have stunted communication, resulting in little to no correlation between the goals of each group when using promotion to enhance food product sales. The current study presents a framework for sales promotion success in the supermarket industry, based on current theory and analysis of 18 industry cases from within food manufacturing and retailing.