Purpose of the special issue In April 2011, the Marketing Department at Lancaster University hosted an interdisciplinary workshop that bought together sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, social practitioners, market practice scholars and social marketers to discuss and explore the nature of markets at the BoP. These international and interdisciplinary perspectives were captured in a collection of essays, soon to be published in Marketing Theory. The workshop and the essays raised many questions about our conceptualization of BoP markets and the theoretical contributions that marketing scholars might make to this field. This SI, seeks to generate insights into BoP markets by bringing together the work of scholars who are engaged with and care about making good markets at the BoP by exploring such questions as: What does social marketing look like at the BOP (developed vs. developing worlds)? What are policy makers doing to make and shape markets at the BOP? How can people organize for markets at BOP? Where and how are BOP initiatives emerging? How do managers and entrepreneurs focus R&D investment-intensive innovations on frugal innovations (Jugaad) to serve the BOP markets? How can we better explore or think about BOP markets as a non-homogenous group but with possible shared similarities and differences? What alternative theoretical lenses might help us conceptualize, understand, or explore BOP markets? What are the methodological challenges associated with studying markets at the BOP? These are intended as indicative questions but we welcome research that speaks to the broader theme discussed here, or that challenges conceptualizations of BoP markets in some way.