Marketing At-Retail - Books Worth Reading

Marketing At-Retail — whether you call it Point-of-Sale, Point-of-Purchase, Product Samples or Product Menus — is undergoing dramatic change driven by market segmentation, media fragmentation and even the places and methods by which brand identities are born and built.

Suppliers, distributors and retailers know they must continue to invest in point-of-sale marketing to drive sales. But knowing what to do, how and when to do it, and why, may often be elusive.  Specifically, beer, wine and spirits suppliers, distributors and retailers can build successful brands and drive sales only by using up-to-date methods and tools.

There are many publications which offer insights on every aspect of marketing alcohol beverage products including:

• ­Guidelines for  planning and executing effective marketing at-retail campaigns
• Discussions and examples of tools for influencing retail shopper’s behavior
• Ideas to maximize POS/POP return on investment ROI
• Best practice outlines for integrating POS (promotions) with Brand Building (advertising)

The following is short list of publications which we have read and have found helpful:

• Wine Marketing and Sales: Success Strategies for a Saturated Market

   Liz Thach Ph.D., Janeen Olsen Ph.D, and Paul Wagner                             $44.00*

• Successful Wine Marketing 

   James Lapsley, Kirby Moulton                                                                            $111.00*

• Sales and Service for the Wine Professional

   Brian K. Julyan                                                                                                         $44.00*

• Beer Blast: The Inside Story of the Brewing Industry's Bizarre Battles for Your Money

   Philip Van Munching                                                                                               $55.00*

• Shopper Intimacy: A Practical Guide to Leveraging Marketing Intelligence to Drive Retail Success

   Rick DeHerder                                                                                                            $30.00*

* All prices shown reflect Amazon’s current off-SRP discounts as of the date of this post. These titles are available to be ordered from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or other online outlets.

— Mark Fullerton