Unit-5

Sales promotion planning:

1. Planning - SALES
-sales volume
-market share
-strengths/ weaknesses
-key success factors
2. Planning - MARKET ANALYSIS

-market definition
-market size
-market segmentation
-industry structure and strategic groupings
-competition and market share
-competitors strengths/ weaknesses
-market trends
Sales promotion planning
3. Planning CONSUMER ANALYSIS
-Nature of the buying decision
-participants
-demographics
-psychographics
-buyer motivation and expectation

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE SALES PROMOTION PROGRAM
corporate SALES objectives
financial objective
marketing objectives
long term objectives

5. COMPETITION ANALYSIS
product/ market share
product / market positioning
sales promotions strategy
promotional goal
promotional mix


Implementing and Controlling the Sales
Promotion

Implementation and control plans for individual promotion should be
established. Implementation planning must cover lead time and sell off time.
Lead time is the time necessary to prepare prior to launching it.
Evaluating the sales promotion Result
Evaluation is a crucial requirement and yet, according to researches, evaluation
of promotional programs receives little attention. Even where an attempt is
made to evaluate a promotion, it is likely to be a superficial evaluation and in
terms of profitability is even less effective. Manufacturers can use four methods
to measure sales promotion effectiveness. The most common method is to
compare sales before, during and after a promotion.
Suppose a company has a 6% market share in the pre-promotion period, which
jumps to 10% during the promotion, falls to 5% immediately after the promotion,
and raised to 7% after some time, consumer panel data would reveal the kind of
people who responded to the promotion and what they did after the promotion.
If more information is needed, consumer survey can be conducted to learn how
many recall the promotion

EVALUATION OF SALES PROMOTION
EFFECTIVENESS AND CONTROL

EVALUATION OF SALES PROMOTION EFFECTIVENESS


Evaluation of Sales Promotion effectiveness: Pre
Testing ,Concurrent testing and Post-testing

Pretesting: The pre-test can be conducted to assess these
factors by using focus groups and consumer panels.
Another approach, ballot method, consists of giving ballot
paper to a list of consumers. They are requested to
evaluate different illustrated promotion schemes and vote
for the most right and return the ballot to the firm. A
relatively expensive but more accurate method is a
portfolio test. A portfolio of sales promotion is prepared
and shown to consumers in person and the responses are
noted.
To test consumers behavior responds such as trial
purchase, repeat purchase, etc., pretesting is done at a
selective individual store at a test market. All other factors
remains same at other markets; only the sales promotion
device is tested at the test market and the change is
noted.

Concurrent testing
This testing is done when the sales promotion is in
progress. Concurrent testing permits the promotion
manager to modify the sales promotion, if needed.
This type of testing is conducted in terms of sales
data which can be obtained on a weekly or monthly
basis. If the promotion is a consumer contest and
the consumer is not required to purchase anything,
the response to promotion can be adjudged by the
number of entries received at some interval and if
need be, the contest period can be extended. In
case of a coupon distribution programme, similar
approach can be adopted by keeping track of
coupons redeemed.

Post-testing
Post-testing is done after the promotion period is over.
To assess the changing consumer awareness and
attitude, telephone calls could be made , questionnaire
could be mailed to the consumers and personal
interviews can be arranged. In these methods, the
most expensive is the personal interview method and
the least expensive is the mail. The information is
sought pertaining to the promotion event. In case of
samples on premiums distributed through retail stores,
intercept interviews at the Point of Sale can reveal
more reliable information. To measure the sales affect,
sales figures before the promotion period can be
compared with figures at the end of promotion and
one month after the promotion ends.

Sales Promotion recent Trends:
Customers Expectations

Marketers who employ sales promotion as a key component in
their promotional strategy should be aware of how the climate for
these types of promotions is changing. For instance, the onslaught
of sales promotion activity over the last several decades has eroded
the value of the short-term requirement to act on sales
promotions. Many customers are conditioned to expect a
promotion at the time of purchase otherwise they may withhold or
even alter their purchase if a promotion is not present. For
instance, food shoppers are inundated on a weekly basis with such
a wide variety of sales promotions that their loyalty to certain
products has been replaced by their loyalty to current value items
(i.e., products with a sales promotion). For marketers the challenge
is to balance the advantages short-term promotions offer versus
the potential to erode loyalty to the product.

Sales Promotion Trends: Electronic Delivery

Sales promotions are delivered to customers in many
ways such as by mail, in-person or within print media.
However, the Internet and mobile technologies, such
as cell phones, present marketers with a number of
new delivery options. For examples, the combination
of mobile devices and geographic positioning
technology will soon permit marketers to target
promotions to a customers physical location. This will
allow retailers and other businesses to issue sales
promotions, such as electronic coupons, to a
customers mobile device when they are near the
location where the coupon can be used.

Sales Promotion Trends: Tracking

As we discussed in our coverage of advertising,
tracking customers response to marketers
promotional activity is critical for measuring
success of an advertisement. In sales promotion,
tracking is also used. For instance, grocery
retailers, whose customers are in possession of
loyalty cards, have the ability to match customer
sales data to coupon use. This information can
then be sold to coupon marketers who may use
the information to get a better picture of the
buying patterns of those responding to the
coupon.


Sales Promotion Trends: Internet
Communication

For many years consumers typically became aware of sales
promotions in passive ways. That is, most customers
obtained promotions not through an active search but by
being a recipient of a marketers promotion activity (e.g.,
received coupons in the mail). The Internet is changing how
customers obtain promotions. In addition to websites that
offer access to coupons, there are a large number of
community forum sites where members share details about
how to obtain good deals which often include information
on how or where to find a sales promotion. Monitoring
these sites may offer marketers insight into how customers
feel about certain promotions and may even suggest ideas
for future sales promotions.

Sales promotion techniques/types
Refer First unit
Wish you all the best