The objective of this article was to investigate the perceptions of retailers and manufacturers with regard to in‐store promotions A literature review of in‐store promotions was undertaken in the context of channel conflict between manufacturers and retailers In this study, the perceptions of a sample of 133 manufacturers and 144 retailers in South Africa were measured Perceptions of these two groups were obtained about the promotional activities conducted, promotion objectives, price and non‐price promotions and the effectiveness and evaluation methods for promotions The results indicate that there are differences between the two groups, with the retailers being the dominant group Also there is a lack of sound measurement of in‐store promotion Implications for manufacturers are discussed.