Shopper Marketing: Profiting from the Place Where Suppliers, Brand Manufacturers, and Retailers Connect

3. How Retailers Work

If collaboration is a key principle of shopper marketing and mutually balanced benefit for brand, retailer, and shoppers is a key objective, then we need to make sure we understand our retailers as well as our shoppers. While both retailers and manufacturers share the same goal of selling more to shoppers, collaboration isn’t easy:

• Priorities and performance measures require intense negotiation:

• Brand equity versus store equity

• Brand share versus category share

• Brand margin versus category margin

• Brand ROI versus category ROI

• Brand’s consumer versus retailer’s customer

• Brands versus store brands

• Roles and responsibilities need definition

• “Who does what” expectations

• Cost allocation—dollars/labor expectations ...