One of key reasons behind the success or failure of any retailer is promotions. It doesn’t matter if the retailer is present online or not, he needs promotions to meet a variety of objectives. There are many kinds of promotions, each fulfill different purpose and each have their own pros and cons. Therefore, it becomes very important for the retailers to look at promotions with a microscopic lens. To have a clear understanding of different kinds of promotions, please watch out for our white paper : Promotions for successful retail business which will be out very soon. This white paper will contain vital information about carrying out both online as well as offline promotions. We will also take up different case studies to illustrate different kinds of promotions. For the time beings let’s look at the following 7 elements of promotions which hold good for both online as well as offline promotions
1) Set objectives: It is very important to have clear and quantified objectives. For eg: Increasing brand awareness is not a good objective to begin with. Increasing footfalls by x % will fall under the category of clear objective. You can also divide objectives into primary and secondary goals.
2) Select Audience: Choose the target audience carefully. A single promotion cannot target every customer segment.
3) Pick a Time line: Decide the beginning and the end date of the promotion. It helps in better measurement.
4) Perform Pricing Analysis: Calculate your margins before and after the sale. It will help in understanding how long you will be able to sustain this promotion
5) Create communication Plan: Choose what message has to be communicated. Choose proper communication channels.
6) Test your promotions: If you really want your promotion to succeed, you cannot afford to miss out on testing. If you are an online retailer perform A/B testing. Brick and mortar retailers can choose one or two outlets and test their promotions before replicating the same thing in other outlets.
7) Prepare for reporting: Track the efficiency for every communication channel. The learning’s can be used in next promotions.
