All roads lead to Rome, as the expression goes, but for consumer goods companies all roads lead to the retailer -- the consumer goods company's customer.
During a pleasant cocktail reception at a users conference in Phoenix, I was shooting the breeze with an elite consumer goods crowd that was eager to learn more about trade promotions.
Consumer goods manufacturers make enormous investments implementing systems, acquiring information and purchasing data from third-party providers to uncover new ways to further penetrate and expand their customer base, while cornering the competition.
The annual New Product Pacesetters report from Information Resources Inc. is an analysis of the most successful new consumer packaged goods brands launched in 2003-2004, plus the factors driving their success and key consumer purchase trends to watch in 2005.
