SPAR Group 4th Annual Trade Promotion Survey

SPAR Group 4th Annual Trade Promotion Survey

Each year the SPAR Group surveys both consumers and the trade to determine their views on the trade promotions offered by leading manufacturers. The 1995 survey encompassed 450 respondents who expressed attitudes on 98 leading national grocery brands culled from over 20 major product categories. Following are some of the major findings:

1. Retailers rated the promotion offerings higher than consumers did for over two-thirds of the brands surveyed. - The only category where consumers viewed the promotions more favorably than the trade was cosmetics. - On the other hand, breakfast foods (cereals, toaster pastries and frozen waffles) promotions were overwhelmingly more favorably viewed by the trade than by the consumer.

2. Cookies and snacks, disposable diapers and miscellaneous food products had the highest median scores in the survey; cosmetics had the lowest.

3. Some major consumer brands scored far below their competitors in the survey. Examples of this are Planter's Nuts and Mott's in their respective categories.

4. Consumer seem to have recalled retailer ads more than either displays or price reductions. - Soft drinks, laundry detergents, paper products and diapers were the categories seen as most frequently offering price promotions.

5. There were 2 special interest categories (pet foods and diapers) included in the survey in which large numbers of consumers could not voice an opinion on promotions of any brand within the category. However there were two general interest categories (Frozen Pizza and Cosmetics) where over 25% of consumers had no opinion on promotions for any brand in the category.

6. The highest rankings in the survey (trade and consumer) combined were:

      1.Coca-Cola* 
      2.Pepsi-Cola* 
      3.Doritos 
      4.Lay's 
      5.Tide 
 *All varieties (i.e., Diet and Caffeine Free) were considered as part of the brand. 

Separate trade and consumer rankings were: 

 Trade 
      1.Lays 
      2.Kraft Cheese 
      3.Doritos 
      4.Ruffles 
      5.Pepsi-Cola 

 Consumer 
      1.Coca-Cola 
      2.Pepsi-Cola 
      3.Tide 
      4.Charmin 
      5.Ragu 


CONTACT: 
        SPAR Group, Inc.
        Bob Brown, 914/332-4100
        or
        Pondel/Wilkinson Group
        Gary S. Maier/Kristin Bruno, 310/207-9300