This study has sought to explain the determinants of what leads certain retailers and not others to adopt an integrated marketing communications (IMC) approach. A sample of 512 retailers in Australian capital cities were used to explore this question. Logit regression analysis has been used to identify the key determinants. The conclusion is that the size of the retail promotion budget and whether or not the retailer is part of a chain organisation are the two critical factors in explaining the adoption of an IMC approach. Both of these factors were positive and highly significant. Other factors had a very minor role to play in explaining the adoption of IMC. The paper concludes by suggesting two key managerial implications for both the large and small retailers in relation to optimising their promotion budget. © 2007 IEEE.