Trade Marketing

3 Key excerpts on "Trade Marketing"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  Store Wars

  The Worldwide Battle for Mindspace and Shelfspace, Online and In-store

  • Greg Thain, John Bradley(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Packaging: Packaging is another variable of great interest to retailers and consumers alike, but from different perspectives. Packaging affects the retailer’s handling costs and the amount of space taken on the shelves. For the consumer, packaging is a strong element of communication and often important to product use. The interests are sometimes aligned, as in the case of ultra-compact disposable nappies. However, in many cases the tastes of the retailer and the shopper are contradictory. Perrier owe a large part of their consumer appreciation to their elegant and unique glass bottle. On the other hand, this same glass bottle can break, is heavy and has a fat waist that pushes the bottles apart on the shelf, wasting valuable space. For handling and close packing, a square plastic bottle is better. Consumer appeal is an important element of the value that a product delivers to a retailer, and integrating this into the Trade Marketing’s strategic triangle is a delicate challenge.
• Targeting Retailers: Trade marketers will view the retail trade as a market with segments, and view some customers as more desirable than others. Desirability is based on criteria like size, volume and ease of servicing. More sophisticated retailers, with modern logistics systems, will be seen as excellent customers. They reorder by EDI, operate from their own centralised warehouses and have a triple-A credit rating. However, looking at retailers as mindspace competitors, these top retailers are precisely the ones that pose the most long-term threat to manufacturers’ brands. A consumer marketing executive may not choose to give this group the most favoured trading partner status. Less sophisticated retailers may be given relatively greater priority, following a policy of developing alternative distribution channels.

Managing Actions

The goal of Trade Marketing is to understand and influence shopping behaviour. For different shopper segments and different product categories, several questions need to be asked: what is the level of planned purchases and what is the level of planning (brand, product category)? How do consumers choose in front of the shelf, what is the value of different shelf positions, and the position within the store? What happens when the brand is out of stock? Who are the shoppers? How do young shoppers differ from older ones, richer from poorer, men from women? Once this has been gathered, manufacturers can use it to influence shopping behaviour. But the difficulty lies in balancing the opportunities in retailers with the needs of the manufacturer. For example:
• Promotions: