An Exploratory Study of Sales Promotion Activities in Toilet Soap Category: An Insight into Consumer and Retailer Perceptions

Understanding perceptions of channel members and consumers regarding sales promotion activities enhances the effectiveness of these activities. Widespread usage of sales promotion activities in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector makes it imperative that manufacturers take into account channel member and consumer perceptions before planning such programmes. In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the nature of sales promotion activities in toilet soap category in India, study retailer perceptions with respect to these activities and also get an insight into consumer perceptions of these activities. Our findings indicate that with respect to the nature of the schemes, premiums (free gifts) were found to be the most frequently used in both premium and popular toilet soap category, followed by price offs. Retailers perceived price offs to have relatively greater impact compared to any other forms of sales promotion. In line with the retailers perceptions, the findings of consumer perceptions indicated that price offs was the most preferred type of sales promotion. Retailers stated that role of word of mouth and television advertising was very important in providing information inputs to the consumers regarding sales promotion activities. This perception of retailers was supported by the consumer unaided recall of sales promotion schemes which were widely advertised. As the retailer interacts and observes consumers more frequently and closely than the manufacturer, it would be useful for the companies to incorporate perceptions while planning sales promotion strategies.

DSS (Decision Support Systems) in Indian Organised Retail Sector

Indian organised retail industry is poised for growth. Rapid state of change due to speedy technological developments, changing competitive positions, varying consumer behaviour as well as their expectations and liberalized regulatory environment is being observed in organized retailing. Information is crucial to plan and control profitable retail businesses and it can be an important source of competitive advantage so long as it is affordable and readily available. DSS (Decision Support Systems) which provide timely and accurate information can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study, exploratory in nature plans to adopt a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in grocery sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study attempts to describe practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in grocery sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. Comparision across national chain and local organized retailer in grocery sector reveals that national chain having implemented ERP partially are mostly using the same for majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management. Two local players use spread sheets and in house software to make the above operational decisions. The benefits realized remain the same across the retailers. Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not communicated. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS by the respondents portrayed a promising picture.

Joint Sales Promotion: Prospects & Issues

This study is an attempt to understand current consumer joint sales promotion in India and thereby identify related prospects and problems. For a conceptual overview, relevant literature in this area was studied. To gain an insight into current practices, announcements of the offers through secondary sources were compiled. A content analysis revealed that "Target market commonality" relationship was the prime reason for companies offering joint sales promotion. It was found that the usage of joint sales promotion was most prevalent in consumer durable category. There exists a prospect for using joint sales promotion in non-durable category. Identifying a suitable partner , planning and co-ordination are the main issues for a manager wanting to use this tool. A guideline regarding the above issues has been suggested.

Indian Organised Apparel Retail Sector and DSS (Decision Support Systems)

Indian apparel retail sector poses interesting challenges to a manager as it is evolving and closely linked to fashions. Appealing mainly to youth, the sector has typical information requirements to manage its operations. DSS (Decision Support Systems) provide timely and accurate information & it can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study exploratory in nature, adopts a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in apparel sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study describes practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in apparel sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. A multi brand local chain and multi brand national chain of apparel was chosen for the study. Varied tools were found to be used by them. It was also found that for sales forecasting and visual merchandising decisions, prior experience rather than any DSS tool was used. The benefits realized were; “help as diagnostic tool”, “accuracy of records and in billing”, “smooth operations”. The implementation issues highlighted by the store managers were; more initial teething problems rather than resistance on the part of employees of the store, need for investment of time & money in training, due to rapid technological advancements, time to time updation in DSS tools is required . Majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management were handled by ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or POS (Point of Sale). Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not attempted. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS seems bright as apparel retailers are keen to invest in technology.

Classification of Empirical Work on Sales Promotion: A Synthesis for Managerial Decision Making

Sales Promotion activities have gained strategic focus as markets are getting complex and competitive. Key managerial concerns in this area are budget allocation across elements of promotions as well as trade vis. consumer promotion, how to design individual sales promotion techniques and a calendar in face of competitive promotions, how to manage them and evaluate the short-term and long-term impact of the same. The objective of this paper is to present, through Meta-analysis, an overview of recent contributions appearing in scholastic journals relevant to the field of Sales Promotion, to classify them into different classificatory framework, report key findings, highlight the managerial implications and raise issues. The database used is the EBSCO host available on VSLLAN (Library)- Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad). The selection procedure consisted of peer-reviewed scholarly contributions for recent five year period. Out of more than 700 articles 64 article were selected which were analyzed for classifying them into • Perspective addressed: Manufacturer, retailer or consumer. • Market [country where the research was undertaken] • Type of promotion activity addressed - coupon, contest, price cut etc. • Management function addressed: planning, implementation, control [evaluation] • It was found that majority of the articles addressed manufacturers perspectives ; almost all studies were done in developed countries ; coupon as a consumer promotion tool was widely researched; and more than half of the articles were addressing planning related issues. Finally attempt has been made to synthesize managerial implications of the studies under broad topic areas for guidelines for managers.

Loyalty Programmes: Practices, Avenues and Challenges

<div align=justify>Complexity of modern business requires managers to strive for innovative strategies to acquire and retain customers in any product market field. As acquiring new customers is getting costlier day by day, business organizations have offered continuity/loyalty programmes to retain/reward existing customers and maintain relationships. The premise of CRM is that once a customer is locked in, it will be advantageous to both the organization as well as customer to maintain relationships and would be a win-win situation for both. Consumers find it beneficial to join such programmes to earn rewards for staying loyal. Through loyalty programmes, firms can potentially gain more repeat business, get opportunity to cross-sell and obtain rich customer data for future CRM efforts (Yuping Liu, 2007). This paper, exploratory in nature, attempts to provide a conceptual overview of Loyalty in organized retail sector, outlines practices of grocery retail outlets in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of 56 lakhs (5.6 million). It also throws light on consumer expectations, perceptions and problems faced through indepth exploration. Based on literature review and environment in India, an emerging economy, it attempts to predict future of such programmes specifically in Indian organised retail sector and discusses managerial challenges of managing loyalty programmes and provides agenda for future research directions.</div>

Loyalty Programme Applications in Indian Service Industry

Retaining all customers would not be a good idea for any business. In contrast, allowing the profitable customers to leave would be an even worse idea. Consequently the real solution rests in knowing the value of each customer and then focusing loyalty efforts on those customers. Customers are more likely to be loyal to a group of brands than to a single brand. This is particularly true if the chosen brand is the category leader and costs more. In contrast to the one – brand- for – life mentality of the past, today’s consumers are blatant in their divided loyalties, for their own safety and pleasure. The conceptual framework presented helps to understand the evolving logic of loyalty programs and process of implementing the same. Applications in different service industry for building and sustaining loyalty provide an overview of the status of such programmes.

Incentive Outlay Ratios in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sector

Inflationary trends in economy have led to increased media costs, forcing many companies to increased expenditure on sales promotion activities. It has been recognized that well-planned sales promotion activities have a strategic role to play in brand building and enhancing customer loyalty. This study examines the nature of schemes offered in the FMCG(fast moving consumer goods) category, to find out ratio of incentive and outlay (which the consumer is expected to make to avail sales promotion offers), explore the relationships, find out the rationale behind these offers, and provide guidelines to managers designing sales promotion activities. Eight different product categories were selected for the study. Information on actual offers made in these categories in a quarter was compiled and tabulated through content analysis in terms of brand, MRP(maximum retail price), offer(size of the incentive offered), nature of the scheme, pack being promoted, and outlay. Variations in I/O(incentive-outlay) ratios across product categories revealed that the non-food category exhibited more variations than the food category.The level of incentive in the nonfood category was higher than that of the food category , 0.33(33percent) was the most frequently offered level of incentive, Bonus pack followed by free gift and price offs were the popular tools used across product categories , Except for toilet soaps, in other categories medium to large pack was promoted more often. The findings suggest that managers need to be creative to create an impact , otherwise consumers would tend to be less loyal to any brand in a category and drift from one promoted brand to another. Several propositions generated in this research need to be addressed in future research. Factors to be considered and managerial issues concerning the design are also discussed.

Measuring Consumer Preferences for Sales Promotion Schemes through Conjoint Design in FMCG Sector

Fast moving consumer goods in India is characterized by intense competition leading to brand proliferation in various categories. Using consumer sales promotion to differentiate ones offer has been a common practice in matured urban markets. More and more budget is allocated to these activities in order to lure the consumers. In such a scenario, it is very essential to study how consumers make their choices in FMCG category where there are several brands in the consideration set of a consumer. The financial risk being low consumers do not mind switching from one brand to another due to sales promotion offer. Hence it would be of interest to a marketer to learn about consumer preferences with respect to sales promotion offers; what schemes do consumers prefer for what kind of brands, which media they prefer to learn about the schemes, whether they prefer incentive immediately or at a later date. It was found that deal proneness prevailed across different demographic segments. Price cut nature of promotions was found to be preferred. Out of the nine concepts presented to the respondents; they preferred a price cut nature of promotion on a national brand with an immediate incentive and awareness created at point of purchase. The study would provide insights to a brand manager in designing a scheme.

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