Institute of Sales Promotion | 19.10.09

Branded-goods manufacturers spent £25.6 Billion in the 2007/8 financial year on sales promotion activity within retailers, according to figures just released by the Institute of Sales Promotion.

That compares with a total above-the-line advertising spend of £18.6bn in 2008, according to the Advertising Association.

The research is the first project overseen by highly-respected retail industry researcher Colin Harper, who was recently named as the ISP’s first-ever head of insight.

Harper says:

“People only tend to notice the obvious marketing spend, on above-the-line advertising or obvious Point of Sale (POS) activity, for example. But sales promotion is a bit like an iceberg — there is far more going on below the surface than immediately meets the eye.”

Putting a figure on sales promotion investment by branded goods manufacturers has involved far more than just tracking advertising spend, Harper adds, as SP activity is not solely under the control of the marketing department but can be initiated by the sales, commercial or trading teams.

It is further complicated by the fact that some companies may not even realise that what they are doing could be classified as sales promotion.

Harper, who, as well as working with the ISP, continues to run his own consultancy, Storecheck, will now be looking at sales promotion spend by companies and public sector bodies in channels other than retail, including cars, technology, services providers and business-to-business, with a view to compiling a figure for the total UK annual spend on all sales promotion activity.