Sales Promotion

In the market, sometimes we see the special offer like "Buy one get one free offer"; on a particular brand of tea there was 50 gm extra in a 250 gm pack or one glass or bowl free with 500 gm. pack. There are innumerable examples where the manufacturer or the seller tries to tempt you to buy his product by offering discounts, extra quantity or a chance to win grand prizes, etc. All such activities are known as sales promotion.

All promotional activities other than advertising, salesmanship and publicity which help in increasing the market demand of the product are called sales promotion. It is a non-repetitive and one time communication process. According to American Marketing Association "Sales Promotion includes those marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertising and publicity that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness such as displays, shows and exhibitions, documentation and various non-recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine".

All elements of a promotion mix such as personal selling, advertising, publicity are used to inform people about the availability of a product, its characteristics and features and to create desire in the mind of the people to buy the product. Sales promotion is an effort in the same direction and is another important element of the promotion mix which includes displays, free sample, trade fairs, exhibitions, discount coupons, deferred payment plans, etc.

Objectives of Sales Promotion

Different sales promotional tools have different objectives. For example, while a free sample may motivate a consumer to buy a product for the first time, a free check-up for existing durable product like television, refrigerator, etc. may affect future purchase decision of the buyer. Some of the objectives of sales promotion are:

  1. Information to Customers: Sales promotion activities inform the potential buyer about the availability, features, uses etc. of the product. Thus, it offers additional support to promotional activities like advertising, publicity and personal selling (salesmanship).

  2. Persuades Customers: Sales Promotion activities aim at arousing customers’ interest in the product and persuading them to buy.

  3. Increase in Sales Volume: It aims at increasing sales. It is specially done during the periods when customer may not buy the product because it may not have immediate use, like a room cooler in winter, and a room heater in summer. The sales promotion schemes are a big help in making off-season sales and also in tempting the buyers to make quick decisions to purchase.

  4. Incentive to Retailers: The main objective of sales promotional activities is to offer promotional support to retailers. Sales promotion schemes make sales easier. Incentive schemes help in getting shelf space for such products in new retail outlets.

  5. Create Product Identity: A number of brands of a particular product are available in the market and it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other as all have similar features, prices, variety etc. Under sales promotion programme, product identity is established by offering additional features and incentives. This helps in building consumers’ preference for the specific products and brands.