Sale is one of the tools of trade marketing. Sale is carried out to increase sales and get rid of old goods. But this discount event can be called successful when it not only sells inventory, but also contributes to the improvement of the company's image or, although it does not harm it. Therefore, the task of marketing marketers is to make the organization of a marketing campaign - sales - not only profitable, but also a remarkable event for the company and its customers.
A sale will become not just a kind of logistic operation for the normalization of stocks, but also a true marketing task if:
the sale will stimulate demand and improve the company's image.
the marketing department that conducts it has specific tasks regarding it
Stages of management
Therefore, such an action must be prepared in advance:
Set a task for sale
Identify those SKUs that are to be sold;
Determine the volume of goods to be sold;
Choose a time for sale and the duration of the action;
Determine the value of the discount for each of the SKU;
Come up with the name of the discount promotion;
To create conditions for purchase to buy;
Launch advertising campaign for target audience.
Calculate revenue figures and take stock.
And all this needs to be tied together, with a tutor about how much goods and at what price you need to sell off during the time of the campaign.
Tasks for sale
The sale can solve one of the following possible tasks:
Stock leveling
Price correction
Sale of seasonal stocks (sale of the old collection)
The increase in sales during the holiday sale period, with compensation after the holiday decline in demand for the goods being sold for a long time.
Types of sales
Compensation sale
Seasonal sale
Holiday Sale
Sales for the purpose of leveling stock
Such actions are held to correct any errors or to minimize the consequences of adverse circumstances - for example, to sell off what we didn’t buy due to weather and other conditions beyond our control, due to price positioning errors, or to sell off that was disproportionately ordered.
Seasonal sales
Any brands of seasonal products one or several times a year, updates the range and change the collection of goods. Every time shops of seasonal goods prepare warehouses and trading halls for a new season and about a month before a new collection is launched and carry out a sale. The objectives of such actions for the sale in addition to the sale of stocks is to attract as many customers as possible.
Holiday sales
As for holiday sales, they are confined to certain events. Such sales (unlike seasonal, addressed to all) are designed for certain categories of customers for whom this holiday is of great importance. And here the main goal of marketing specialists is to attract customers and strengthen their loyalty. Such sales are characterized by short terms, in which there is a rush demand, which causes certain difficulties when conducting such kind of actions.
How is the sale done?
Most sales organizers are trying to push a non-tradable product to participate in the action, for this they arrange “2 for the price of one”, “when buying one SKU another SKU as a gift. Retailers often create discounts at the expense of the supplier and his efforts - by letting him through called inbound supplier price.
In any case, take into account that the solution of the problem of selling stocks is not supposed to cancel the solution of another task - increasing loyalty. Therefore, there is a SKU, which occupies the top lines in the ranking of sales should also be subject to sale. In addition, it is necessary that buyers know in advance the average price level for the range of goods sold. For the buyer, the price reduction should be obvious and significant, otherwise the effect of holding the action will be minimal or even zero.
The item being sold must be known and visible to the buyer. To do this, you need to make an announcement in advance, obviously it is necessary for the buyer to place and mark the goods intended for the sale, for the goods sold for the shares you need to allocate a special place and create an appropriate sale atmosphere.
The marketing department should not lose sight of the fact that the products sold can attract attention to other products. Therefore, before the action you need to imagine how the pre-sale to the product for the action and the cross-sale with goods not participating in the action can look like.
Advertising attract buyers
To attract attention to the sale, it is worth using several channels at the same time to complement and continue each other.
Do not forget about mass advertising. A good means of communication can be a flyer or a booklet reporting on promotions, discounts on goods. It is printed in advance and distributed at points of sale. A number of studies have shown that85% of customers study newspapers, newspapers of retailers, and with their help they make decisions about buying goods. But being carried away by mass advertising, we should not forget about direct marketing - direct and personal appeal to regular customers. Direct marketing is the best way to interact with an active and permanent target audience. You can emphasize the priority of your client with a personal and possibly more profitable offer for him. The promotion "Gift for the purchase" is one of the sales mechanic. It happens that during the promotion it is necessary to focus on any product that is inelastic in demand (demand for which depends little on the price of this product). in this case, a direct discount on the goods will lead to a direct loss of profits. It is appropriate to use a different mechanics of sales - to offer the buyer a "gift for the purchase" (best of all, something with your logo - remember about loyalty). The accompanying product service — delivery, free gift packaging, extended warranty period — is perfect. The best time for sales Marketing specialists will no doubt easily call this the best time for organizing sales - this is a combination of the upcoming holiday, end of season, which coincided with the day of the advance payment or salary. Therefore, all such days must be marked in the calendar of any marketer. At this time, buyers are emotionally and financially prepared for both costs and active shopping, ideas and promotions. But the actions held on such days may have a negative result, since they are held simultaneously with sales of competitors. Therefore, sometimes specially celebrated celebrations are sometimes more effective and convenient. Selling name for sales Sales are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon, many buyers perceive these marketing campaigns as selling junk, substandard and unclaimed goods. To avoid such associations and at the same time stand out among the competitors, it is imperative that you use the sonorous and reflective meaning of the action itself for this promotion. Such a name should be short, biting and understandable, but not banal and often used by competitors. Evaluating the effectiveness of sales The effect of the sale involves two components: an increase in awareness, which is expressed in an increase in the number of attracted customers (visitors); an increase in sales, that is, an increase in sales. How effective the sale is determined using simple formulas. To assess how much sales of surplus stock have increased, an additional turnover is determined: Td = Tp - Tp, where: Tp is the turnover of goods during the sale, Tp is the planned turnover without a sale. TD - additional turnover. To determine the effect of sales, you must first calculate the gross income from the additional turnover. This is the difference between the retail price at the sale and the purchase price: WD = CRr - J, where: CR - the price at the sale, J - the price at purchase, WD - the gross income from additional turnover. After that, the economic effect is calculated: E = Bd - Zgde: E is the economic effect of sales, Bq is the gross income from additional goods turnover, H is the cost of advertising and the preparation of sales. Something instead of the total Formulas do not show the full effectiveness of the sale. The result of the sale may be increased customer loyalty and expansion of the target audience. In addition, the sale of excess inventories, even at a loss to the company, makes it possible to normalize the company's financial flows. Therefore, the final effect of the sale depends on its goals.