Literature review 19

Figure 4: Changes in manufacturer, retailer, shopper, and consumer

interactions

pull
pull

1990s until today push

Manu- Con-
facturer Retailer Shopper sumer
pull pull

pull

1950s – 1990s Manu- push pull Con-

facturer Retailer Shopper sumer

push push Shopper/

Manu-
Before the 1950s Retailer Con-
facturer
sumer

1950s‒1970s

This period was the beginning of significant growth of the branded goods manufacturers that
are today the leading global corporations. Many of them had already existed for some time
and successfully established household brands like Ivory Soap, Persil, and others (Webster
2000). With the help of growing television penetration, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s and
other large manufacturers could communicate their brand message to millions of consumers
and influence their purchase preference to their brands. The upcoming self-service
supermarket chains further supported the growth of the branded goods manufacturers, since
they focused on national brands to offer a similar assortment of well-known brands in all of
their stores. Self-service has changed the way people shop. Shoppers now decide on their own
in front of the shelf which to product to buy. The direct influence of the store manager behind
the counter is lost. In addition, the shopper can choose between more products in the typical
supermarket. With increasing market share of supermarkets, shoppers could choose between
more outlets offering a somewhat similar assortment. The supermarket chains started to “pull”
shoppers with special offers and broader assortments to their stores. For manufacturers, new
supermarket store openings lead to further distribution of their brands. They usually
maintained fixed prices with the retailers. Thus, the manufacturers defined the price that the
shopper pays at the till and could control price discounts granted to the shopper.

As exhibited in Figure 4, the manufacturer-consumer interactions and the retailer-shopper

interactions changed. Advertising by the manufacturers established a “pull” relationship with
the consumer. Self-service, store growth, and special offers turned the interaction between the