Marketing: Sales Promotion

• Refers to all forms of promotion other than  advertising or personal selling
• Stimulation of sales achieved through contests,
• demonstrations,
• discounts,
• exhibitions or trade shows,
• games,
• giveaways,
• point-of-sale displays and merchandising,
• special offers,
• trial periods
• and similar activities.
• Sales promotions are normally employed in a supportive role together with other forms of promotion
• The aim is to communicate with customers and in the process:
• develop the product/brand’s image
• enhancing promotional activities undertaken by distributors e.g. a shop selling Coke on discount
• Aiding recognition of the product
• Attracting attention to the product
• Encouraging consumers to try the product
• Increasing market share
• Popular examples of promotional sales include:
• DSTV/Multichoice allowing views to access channels from higher priced tiers with the hope that customers will upgrade once they get hooked to the programming
• Selling loss leaders in supermarkets in order to attract attention and make profit on other items
• Clearance sales
• Discounts and deals in clothing stores such as Powersales
• Trial periods for subscription based services such as Netflix

To access more topics go to the O Level Business Notes