The purpose of this paper is to focus on the sharing of information between retailers and manufacturers. Over the past five years there has been a revolution in the information that retailers have had at their disposal on which to make business decisions. Over the past couple of years they have also become more prepared to share these information sets with manufacturers their suppliers. There is the potential for both the retailer and manufacturer to gain by using shared information as a method of driving enhanced business performance. However this will only be achieved where there is wide and equitable access to data.
The purpose of this chapter is to explain how market information based upon retail sales is derived and used by manufacturers and retailers to make better business decisions. Since the emergence of mass marketing, manufacturers of fast turnover packaged goods have wanted information about the performance of their brands, both against key competitors, and the market as a whole. For the fifty years prior to 1980, such information came from two main sources: consumer panels and retail audits.