Scanning: A marketing tool for the manufacturer

The advantages and disadvantages of scanning for the retailer have received a great deal of publicity; less has been said about the possibilities which exist for the intelligent use of scanning — and EPOS generally — by the supplier, and especially the food supplier. Charles Auld is firmly of the view that scanning can be used as a marketing tool; to assist the manufacturer in range rationalisation, in providing information about regionality of consumer behaviour, and in range extension. This is an edited version of a paper deliverd by Charles Auld at the annual conference of the Marketing Society held in November in London.