How to manage your in-store promotions?
The number of people visiting retail outlets has been dropping considerably for some time due to changing consumer habits. With the arrival of the drive-through and the multiplication of online stores, we can unfortunately expect this situation to continue and even worsen over the years. To counter this phenomenon, retailers do not hesitate to reduce their margins on certain items or services. Promotions are then used to attract customers, but also to boost sales. Provided that they are conducted according to the rules. By improving promotions forecasting, a company can ensure the success of its sales promotion strategy. It would also be beneficial to apply these 5 techniques for good management of in-store promotions.
Define the type of promotions to implement
Choosing to use promotional marketing involves a company selecting the best promotional strategy based on its financial and business objectives. It can apply different types of promotions around prices, bonus sales, games, but also trials and sampling.
Pricing promotions
Price reduction promotions are the most popular. They are also the ones that consumers adhere to the most because they feel they have really made a good deal. Indeed, when they buy a product at a lower price than its original allocation price, their purchasing power is increased.
In this category of promotions, there are still many variations:
- special offer: which consists in offering a price reduction on a product or a service during a short period of time to create a sense of urgency;
- special shopping days: the promotional mechanism is the same as the special offer, except that here the offer is only valid for 24 hours. The most popular example is Black Friday;
- the discount coupon: the customer is given a discount coupon indicating a percentage discount;
- refunds: on presentation of their receipt, customers are refunded a part of their purchase;
- product return: this is a fairly recent promotional mechanism. It consists of a brand offering its customers to buy back used products when they are renewed.
Premium sales promotions
Promotions around premium sales are also very popular. There are several variants:
- free product: this is also known as an additional product offer or "two for the price of one" strategy. The principle is simple: the company offers a product with the purchase of another;
- the bonus gift: in principle, this promotion is similar to the previous offer. Except that here, it implies the return of the product to the store;
- loyalty promotion: this involves setting up a loyalty card system and offering personalized promotions to customers after a certain number of purchases in the store;
- bundle: this is a technique that consists in proposing a grouped offer in order to make customers discover little known or new items.
Gamified promotions
Promotions around games are very well positioned in the list of promotions to be organized by companies to stimulate sales in the points of sale. They can take the form of either a competition through which the qualities and skills of customers are highlighted or a lottery where the winner is drawn after collecting the entries.
Testing and sampling promotions
This type of promotion has a bright future with the expansion of food shops. Indeed, one of the promotional strategies consists in organizing the presentation or the tasting of a new product. Brands in the cosmetics, fashion and luxury industries also often use this method. Their strategy is to offer a sample of a product that is to be launched in the next few days in a store, in busy places or during events.
Designing simple offers on trendy products
The objective of a promotional marketing strategy is to generate sales by influencing consumer buying behavior. It is therefore essential that a company offers products that are in high demand by customers. Otherwise, there is a high risk that they will not be interested in the promotion despite the promotional mechanism put in place.
Regarding the promotional mechanics, it is important to know that depending on the type of promotions adopted by the company, the returns it will receive will not be the same. Customers are generally more conquered by plans that guarantee them immediate discounts on a product than by a discount in card advantage or a deferred bonus.
Also, a company is more likely to make big profits by offering simple deals that involve very little action on the part of the customer.
Anticipate the tagging of items
The selected products must be carefully tagged before the day of the sale. The principle is simple: show the old price, the new reduced price and the discount rate. This is quite a time-consuming exercise, especially when the promotion concerns a very large number of products. In this case, the trick is to divide the work by printing the tag first, then tagging the products by category.
The use of electronic tags is also widespread, as well as colored stickers to be stuck on the products concerned by the promotion. Each color corresponds to a specific percentage to be applied at the cash register. The resulting time savings make these solutions much more practical.
Ensure the visibility of the promotional offer
French consumers are very fond of bargains and plans involving zero fees. One statistic shows that 55% of consumers say they have already been to a store to take advantage of a promotion. This figure is quite indicative of their interest in this type of commercial strategy.
However, the company must make sure to popularize the offer as much as possible so that the information reaches the target audience. The target audience is of course the existing clientele, but also potential customers who might be interested in such an offer. Promotions are therefore an opportunity to gain new customers. Provided that you give them some visibility.
Implement a computerized promotion management system
To get the most out of large investments, companies need to use a promotion management IT system. This also improves the customer experience. This way, every customer can buy what they want, when they want it and at the price that has been advertised.
With a CRM software for example, the management of promotions will be facilitated. All a company has to do is enter information about its product range, customer profiles, business procedures and objectives, and the program will automatically generate data that will serve as a basis for estimating profits during a promotional campaign. This data will also allow it to improve its performance for future campaigns.
In short, promotions are not to be taken lightly. They help build customer loyalty, maximize sales, gain market share and increase profits. It is therefore essential for a company to manage them well to ensure that it achieves the financial objectives it has set for itself over a given period.
We recommend these other pages: