Manufacturer's promotional support is an important factor in buyers' selection of their suppliers. Research into retail customers' needs examined apparel retail buyers' attitude and acceptance behavior toward manufacturer's promotional support, and the effects of retail organization's characteristics (i.e., orientation, size, and degree of centralization) on the attitude and acceptance behavior toward the promotional support. Promotional support items were categorized into four through literature review (i.e., promotional materials, monetary support, selling aids, motivation of salespeople).

Differences between importance perception and offering frequency of promotional support, and differences between importance perception and acceptance and cooperation level with promotional support were also examined. A mail survey (postal or fax) was designed to collect data. Apparel retail buyers from one hundred apparel retail organizations with annual sales volume over $100 million, randomly selected from Hoovers Online Search on the internet, participated in the survey. Forty-eight organizations agreed to participate. A total of 397 questionnaires were mailed, with follow-up phone calls to increase the response rate. Data analysis was conducted on the 137 questionnaires out of 141questionnaires returned (response rate: 35.52%). Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed a positive relationship between importance perception and offering frequency of promotional support, and between importance perception and acceptance or cooperation level. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed the existence of significant differences among levels of orientation and degree of centralization in apparel retail buyers' attitude and acceptance behavior toward three promotional support components (i.e., promotional materials, selling aids, motivating salespeople). Specific differences in attitude and acceptance behavior among levels of organizational variables are discussed, and some recommendations for apparel manufacturers' promotional support strategies to their specific retail customers are proposed.