Knowing the customer and their buying habits is a leading requirement for any retailer. In the discretionary consumer marketplace, it is even more of an imperative. If a company isn’t sure of its customer base and how it spends its money, it may as well fold up shop. Understanding who the customer is, how much they have to spend and what they really need for day to day living is the key to profit in a difficult retail marketplace. Finding a company that actually has this information, and is using it effectively, is the trick.

Vertical Branding Inc., a consumer products company, works to market recession resistant products to a defined target market. The company has recently reworked its marketing model to reflect an 80% wholesale to retail sales distribution mix.

As the discretionary consumer sector continues to have issues in a recessionary marketplace, Vertical Branding is finding reasonable performance. For the