After years of simply advertising to consumers, research showed the existence of an entirely new type of "super consumer". These very important people could be targeted by entirely different media. It appeared they actually took the purchase decisions for many more people based on very different motivations. The researchers called these very important consumers "shoppers". Reaching and influencing them became known as shopper marketing. Some time later, further research showed these shoppers were seriously hampered by retailer supply chain delivering only average space and demand management across the country. Like minded shoppers clustered together, and the stores they shopped in needed more space, and speedier replenishment for local tastes and preferences. Store staff across the country struggled to keep these spaces filled, and shoppers happy. Typical targeted Marketing investment actually made this position worse, increasing demand leading to increased local out of stock and unhappy shoppers. Beyond Shopper Marketing builds a playbook for a vital 3-way team between, sales, marketing and supply chain. Brands and retailers needing profitable growth have to understand the importance of moving forward on these three fronts together in zynergy. Critically this must cross the traditional boundary between sales and marketing. Budgets that often work quite independently (and often at cross-purposes) can easily be many times more effective simply by being placed in the context of a single new objective. You don't need more money you just need the budget you currently spend to work together better. "In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are" - Arnold Glasgow
About the Author: Colin Harper was educated at Bishop Veseys Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield, and gained a B.Sc in Psychology from Manchester University, followed by an M.A. in Marketing from Lancaster University. Having spent 10 years with brand marketing - the BAT subsidiary, British American Cosmetics and Guinness Group, he then changed from the brand side to work with a variety of Sales Promotion Agencies rising to MD. In 1995 he set up Storecheck Marketing Ltd. Having noticed the huge gap between retailer promises of action and delivered results, this company was launched alongside a major piece of research showing that actual compliance to POP and agreed store placement of added off shelf space was as low as 50%. These figures are now widely accepted as a regrettable fact. Storecheck - set up with the objective of "giving companies everything they need to get growth in store", has continued to be at the leading edge of point of purchase research. Storecheck research has been used widely including by industry bodies such as The Grocer and the IGD. Colin served on the POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) research committee, working with major brands to deliver cutting edge insight into best practice at the point of purchase. Colin is co-author, with Roddy Mullin, of Shoppernomics (Gower Publications).