For years carpetmakers dictated pricing, what products dealers could sell, even how goods were displayed. If the internet leads to price wars, manufacturers were afraid that some retailers will be put out of business and force the remainder to skimp on service and inventory. Most consumers won't order carpet without being able to see and touch a sample. According to a survey, more than half of all consumers buy on the basis of on the spot recommendations by salespeople. Also called push money, spiffs are paid by store managers or manufacturers to unload pathetically unpopular or soon to be discontinued products on unsuspecting customers.
Spiffs range from cash payments to clothing to merchandise to vacation trips.
They hire William Connor Associates, with 264 quality assurance technicians in 31 different countries. In addition to assuring the greenness of the product, Connor has helped clients reduce the design to shipping timeline from 9 months down to 3.5 months. This allows fair year to year comparisons. But even here the comparison can be faulty. So Starbucks could be a growth company solely by dint of growth in store count, not growth in the popularity of its product.