Retail Communications Mix



Retail Marketing

The retail marketing concept is the acceptance by the retailer that it is the “customer” and not “demand” that lie at the core of the retail organization. The retail marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of retailing or retail structure.

It is founded on the belief that profitable retailing and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.

It is an attitude of mind that places the customer at the very centre of retailing activities.

Communications Mix

Communication Mix is the range of approaches and expressions of a marketing idea developed with the hope that it be effective in conveying the ideas to the diverse population of people who receive it.

It is designed to achieve a variety of objectives for the retailer, such as building a brand image of the retailer in the customer's mind, increasing sales and store traffic, providing information about the retailer's location and offering, and announcing special activities.

Retailers communicate with customers through various means. These elements in the communication mix must be coordinated so customers have a clear, distinct image of the retailer and not be confused by conflicting information.

Many retailers use rules of thumb to determine the size of the promotion budget. Marginal analysis, the most appropriate method for determining how much must be spent to accomplish the retailer's objectives, should be used to determine whether the level of spending maximizes the profits that could be generated by the communication mix.

The main elements that make up the promotions/communications mix are:

[pic]

• PAID IMPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Advertising

It is an Effective medium for creating awareness and interest. Low control over response.

Television

Cinema

Radio

Directories

Packaging

Hoardings/Posters

Magazines

Catalogues

Brochures

Internet

Sales Promotion

Effective medium for creating awareness, interest and credibility.

Little control.

Publicity can be highly credible if it is well thought - out and it is extremely cheap. A feature in a paper, magazine sometimes seem more credible to readers than ads BUT it is restricted by editorial decisions by the media source used

Money-off coupons

Free gift Samples

Store Atmosphere

 The combination of the store’s physical characteristics (architecture, layout, signs and displays, colors, lighting, temperature, sounds, smells) together create an image in the customers’ mind

Retailers’ Community Building Websites

It offer opportunities for customers with similar interests to learn about products and services that support their hobbies and share information with others

• PAID PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Personal selling

In this salespeople satisfy needs through face to face exchange of information. Effective medium for influencing all stages of the decision making process, especially the decision to buy.

High level of control.

Good for small businesses with local markets complex products and services.

Direct Mail

Mailshots

E-mail

CD-ROMS

Email

Retailers inform customers of new merchandise, receipt of order or when order has been shipped

M-Commerce (mobile commerce)

• UNPAID IMPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Publicity

It is communication through significant unpaid presentations about the retailer, usually a news story, in impersonal media.

Effective medium for creating awareness, interest and credibility.

Little control.

Publicity can be highly credible if it is well thought - out and it is extremely cheap. A feature in a paper, magazine sometimes seem more credible to readers than ads BUT it is restricted by editorial decisions by the media source used

• UNPAID PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

 

Word of Mouth

Effective medium for creating interest and desire for your product or service and it is extremely cheap.

give excellent service and produce good quality

pay attention to packaging

give customers something to pass onto friends such as business cards

give customers incentive to bring new customers e.g. special discounts

become part of local community activities

team up with other local businesses and pass customers between you

To get people to tell others about you, you must:

Personal Selling

Presentations

Meetings

Telemarketing

Trade fairs

 

 

Steps to develop a Communications Program.

1 .Identify target audience

2.Determine Promotion Objectives

3.Set Promotion Budget

4.Decide on Suitable Time-Span

5.Design the Message

6.Decide on Promotion Mix and Allocate Budget

7.Carry out Promotion Plan

8.Measure and Analyse Results

Identify Target Audience

Market research and market segmentation will help to identify the audience for your product or service. Information on how large the audience is, where they are located and hopefully some idea of their needs, attitudes and preferences and the benefits they require from your product or service.

Determine Promotion Objectives

The objectives of the promotion mix must be:

Realistic, Attainable ,Attributable. Measurable

■ Specific goals related to the retail communication mix’s effect on the customer’s decision-making process

■ Long-term: ex) creating or altering a retailer’s brand image

■ Short-term: ex) increasing store traffic

Determine Promotion Budget

Allocate your budget wisely; money spent on a bad promotion is worse than spending no money on promotion. You must also be able to justify this cost in your business plan.

Decide on Suitable Time Span

A decision must be reached on the time scale of the Promotion campaign. This will depend on the objectives of the campaign, the medium used and the allocated budget. The timing of the campaign is also important e.g. advertising fireworks in January!

 

Decide on Message

The message and the medium used to convey that message will be affected by the type of product/service, the cost, legislation, what the competition is doing etc. Most importantly, it will be affected by the desired response from the consumer and the stage in the buying process that needs to be influenced.

The “AIDAS” model can illustrate this buying process:

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

Satisfaction

Ideally the message should get the attention of the consumer and take them through the stages until a purchase is made and satisfaction reached. In practice few messages take a consumer through the whole process, but are pitched at a certain level that meets the promotion objective.

The message content should include a unique selling proposition (USP), i.e. a benefit, motivation, identification etc. that appeals to the audience. This appeal could be: -

Rational - appeals to audience's self interest. Show that product produces claimed benefits such as quality, economy, value, e.g. car ads.

Emotional - stir up a positive/negative emotion that will motivate purchase, e.g. Andrex puppies.

Moral - directed to the audience's sense of what is right, e.g. support for social causes.

The message format should be strong in order to catch the attention of the audience. The message format depends on the promotional medium used. For printed ads, careful decision for headline illustration, colour etc. For personal selling, decision as to choice of words, portfolio, dress, body language.

Decide on Promotion Mix

Each promotional element has a different communication capacity, is effective at different stages in the buying process and we have a different level of control over each one. Therefore the decision for choice of promotion mix will depend upon:

target audience

objectives

timing

stage of product life cycle

complexity of product

competition

legal restraints

monetary restraints etc.

Carry out a promotion Plan

A pre planned promotion should be done so that it is able to attract consumers and is successful.

Various methods for promotion can be adopted

Such As- advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, e-mail, direct mail etc

Measure and Analyse Results

It is important to measure in some way the effectiveness of your promotion campaign. Measuring and analysing the outcome of the promotion campaign will help in the development of future campaigns. It may be that you need to change the medium used or the time - span etc, of the next promotion campaign

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download