Trade marketing is what? Trade marketing: tools and activities

Stimulation of sales of products is one of the key tasks of any trade organization, usually implemented using well-known direct advertising of goods and services. A worthy alternative to this method is a set of trade marketing activities, the popularity of which methods in the world grows day by day. Let's try to understand what is trade marketing and how it works.

The concept and essence of trade marketing

In general, trade marketing is a specially organized set of measures to promote sales of products, used by wholesale and retail companies. It functions through specific instruments of influence on consumers at different levels.

At the same time, direct influence can be given to both final buyers and intermediaries, whose role is played by participants in the chain of product promotion - sales representatives, distributors, dealers. As for the methods of influence, it can be both material means of influence, for example, rewards, discounts, gifts, and any other types of motivation.

This method of stimulation is much more effective than direct advertising - ATL, in which all manufacturers are so eager to invest. While it just reminds people about the product being promoted and tries to convince people of the need to buy it, trade marketing, Which is an indirect advertisement or BTL, directly or by the hands of intermediaries, inclines the buyer to give preference at the time of making a purchase to him.

Aims and objectives of trade marketing

As the main goal of stimulating marketing, it is necessary to consider not simply the growth of profit or sales in a short period or perspective. Mostly, all actions are aimed at creating a common positive image of the manufacturer, creating a loyal consumer attitude to it and the products it produces.

Trade marketing involves achieving key goals by performing the following list of tasks:

• Sales management. Studying the psychological characteristics of a potential buyer, attracting his attention to the goods, securing information about him in the mind.
• Strengthening the position of the supplier in the sales market in a competitive environment. Conquering the location of its consumer, creating a favorable image of the company, identifying the advantages of specific products and their promotion.
• Technological improvement of sales. Optimization of the space of trade halls.
• Managing the actions of a potential consumer. Acceleration of the decision-making process for purchasing and increasing its amount.

Organization of trade-marketing in the company

Speaking of trade marketing, it should be noted that this is just one of many ways to stimulate sales of products. At the enterprise, it is an integral part of overall marketing planning and budgeting, and should be carried out in close connection with the ongoing program of positioning and brand development.

Depending on the scale of the organization, a department can be created or a responsible specialist, a trade-marketing specialist, hired. In any case, a new division or position will be part of the existing marketing department. It is also possible to outsource these functions.

The newly introduced structural unit or third-party executor should study and analyze the current state of the sales market, develop and implement on the basis of the obtained data a plan of trade-marketing activities to promote the goods among intermediary trade organizations and end-users.

The main tools of trade marketing

The toolkit of trade marketing is extremely wide. Among its key tools are:

• Direct promotion of sales.
  • Granting of discounts, bonuses to participants of the commodity distribution chain.
  • Encouraging the end customer in the form of gifts when buying, drawing prizes.
• Merchandising . Includes implementation and control of the layout of goods in sales outlets, consulting, acquaintance of buyers with new products in stores, holding of shares, competitions and presentations.
• Special trade-marketing events. This includes the organization of commodity exhibitions and presentations, seminars, conferences and trainings for the staff of trade intermediaries.

The decision to use these or other instruments is made by the persons responsible for implementing the trade-marketing strategy. The final result from the application of each of them is determined primarily by the specific features of the particular situation.

Work with resellers

Trade marketing is a system of knowledge that reveals exactly how you can influence distributors, dealers, sales representatives, so that they are actively promoting the right product among buyers. Among all the instruments of influence, one can single out the material stimulation of the intermediary commodity distribution chain. It is usually organized in the form of shares held by the supplier, which can be directed to:

• Expansion of the volume of purchases. Usually associated with a decrease in the purchase price, but the conditions for granting discounts may be different, for example:
  • A bonus that is valid for the duration of the contract when you purchase a certain quantity of goods.
  • Periodic hot discount offers.
  • Provision of a commodity bonus for the purchase of a specified volume of goods.
• Growth in sales. Such activities are aimed at getting intermediaries motivation to actively engage in the sale of a particular product. They can be implemented in different ways:
  • Establishing and encouraging the implementation of planned sales volumes.
  • Organization of competitions and prize draws for personnel with good performance.
  • Carrying out the action "Mystery shopper" and rewarding the best employees.
• Increase the distribution of goods to points of sale. It is the remuneration of the mediator for achieving one of the goals:
  • The product is presented in the required number of sales outlets.
  • In the set number of points of sales the necessary assortment is presented.
  • The given conditions for the laying out of the goods in the sales areas are fulfilled.

Merchandising as part of a trade marketing campaign

Trade marketing considers merchandising as a special set of activities conducted on the territory of retail outlets and aimed at increasing the volume of sales to the end customer. All promotional activities are carried out by the manufacturer's personnel in consultation with or without an intermediary. Among the main areas of work can be identified:

• Layout is the key point of merchandising. The goods on the shelves should be presented in such a way as to cause the buyer to buy it.
• Regulation of the presented product range.
• Preparation of the point of sale: the determination of the favorable location of the pavilion in the shopping complex, the implementation of the right zoning and design of the premises, the adjustment of lighting and sound accompaniment.
• Equipment of a trading hall: selection of show-windows, mannequins, refrigerating and other equipment.
• Providing a place for selling POS-materials, which include advertising booklets and posters, price tags, information stands, shelves and so on.
• Realization of audio and video presentations in the trading floor.
• Carrying out of advertising actions - lotteries, draws, competitions, having visitors to purchase of the concrete goods.

Special trade-marketing events

Such types of incentive measures, like merchandising, are classified as intangible, they are mainly aimed at increasing the loyalty of intermediate consumers. The following are their varieties:

• Conducting training seminars, trainings for personnel of trade intermediaries. These events are conducted to better acquaint with the current range and features of specific products.
• Business meetings and conferences. They represent periodic meetings of representatives of the supplier and major trade intermediaries, in which informal outcomes are summed up, further prospects of cooperation are discussed, problems are identified and ways of their solution are discussed. Such events are usually organized by large network companies.
• Business presents. They are part of the generally accepted business etiquette. They should be given solely about, but selected in such a way that they are most useful to the recipient.

Activities aimed at the end customer

Despite the variety of methods of working with intermediaries, do not forget that trade marketing is also a set of effective ways to influence the consumer of the goods. Forming additional motivation from the buyer, they are aimed at short-term increase in demand for the promoted goods. There are the following types of such impact:

• Lotteries, games, contests, surprises. Assume a possible unknown gain when buying goods.
• Organization of club programs. A community of buyers of a specific brand is being created, whose members are endowed with certain privileges.
• Charity events, sponsorship and event marketing. Special events of various kinds are held to attract the target audience: concerts, festivals, parties, organized sports competitions, city holidays.
• Participate in industry exhibitions and use mobile promozon in crowded places.
• Distribution of advertising leaflets about the goods with indication of possible channels for its acquisition.
• The prize for the purchase. Can be organized in the form of a gift in each package of the goods, providing a larger volume at the previous price, holding shares of the "1 + 1" type.
• Sampling is a gratuitous distribution of product samples.
• Periodic reduction of prices for goods and distribution of coupons for subsequent purchases at a discount through magazines, other goods or by mail.

Effectiveness of trade-marketing events

In addition to the perfect possession of tools, the trade marketing manager should be able to correctly assess the effectiveness of the complex of measures taken. This is a very important point, since the implementation of the trading strategy is a very costly matter and the management will certainly want to know how profitable this investment is and whether it is worth continuing to do so.

The qualitative or communicative effectiveness of the trade-marketing campaign shows how successfully its behavior has affected the image of the manufacturer. Mostly, we are talking about increasing brand awareness, loyalty to it, and informing consumers about changes in the price policy and products of a particular brand.

Economic efficiency represents a quantifiable result from the use of a set of sales promotion tools. It is usually carried out on the basis of target indicators - sales, purchases, distribution of goods, the size of the customer base. The analysis compares their values before and after the trade-marketing events.

The main stages of effective trade marketing

Having dealt with what is trade marketing, you need to understand how to organize the process of its successful application. The set of steps, as well as the set of tools used, will vary depending on the particular case. However, we can identify the key stages of the trade-marketing program:

• Internal goal setting, formulation of expected results.
• Establishment of necessary links in the commodity distribution chain and analysis of their capabilities.
• Carry out training of personnel of trade intermediaries.
• Implementation of methods to increase the loyalty of participants in the commodity distribution chain.
• Material methods of influence on intermediaries.
• Merchandising.
• Work with the end user.
• Analysis of the effectiveness of the campaign.

The results should be compared with the expected results. After making the appropriate corrections, the process must be repeated anew. Cyclicality is associated not only with the inability to select from the first attempt an ideal scheme of trade marketing, but also with unstable conditions of the internal and external environment that require an adequate change in the work of the company itself.

Trade marketing is a joint activity of links in the chain of trade for the promotion of goods from the producer to the consumer. A competent organization can guarantee exceptionally positive results for all its participants.