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  • Trade Promotion (Pt1) Sell-In, Sell-Out, or SELL-AT!

    Trade Promotion (Pt1) Sell-In, Sell-Out, or SELL-AT!

    Seducing ‘brand switchers’ at the trade counter.

    Trade promotions are a powerful tool—but poorly executed, they can bleed margin and lose control fast.

    Most manufacturers stick to “sell-in” and “sell-out” models to drive stock through wholesalers and distributors. But there’s a third lever often overlooked—one that taps into brand-switchers and boosts in-branch visibility without eating into your profit.

    We call it the Sell-At Strategy—and here’s how it works.

    Tried and tested methods

    Sell-in, or ‘push’. Aimed at branch managers and counter staff. Used to encourage the placement of a substantial stock order, to promote new product lines, to secure shelf space, and the purchase of old stock.

    With 80-85% of stock sold through an in-house telesales department, this is often a primary target for incentive promotions.

    Sell-out, or ‘pull’. Aimed at the contractor. This could be the buyer receiving a telesales call, the wholesaler’s invoice featuring a promotion, or the walk-in trade customer that knows the brand.

    Prior to participating in a ‘sell-out’ promotion, a branch manager often needs convincing the campaign will stimulate sales.

    Creating conversions

    A strong promotion, let’s say a price promotion, which encourages brand-loyal customers to participate, has the risk of selling stock at a discount that would have otherwise been purchased at full price – you’re giving away margin!

    The key here is the brand switcher: Walk-in contractors who are less brand loyal and looking for a deal: discounts, buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) offers or even free gifts.

    Converting these customers is key to increasing sales and return on investment.

    Our extra step: the ‘Sell-At’ strategy.

    Having developed and run numerous ‘at-counter’ sales promotions, we’ve stopped and restarted many over the years, usually due to product supply issues. This is what we’ve learned:

    Seducing ‘brand switchers’ at the trade counter. A mixture of point of sale and in-branch promotional elements used to promote the 'Join The Revolution' product campaign developed for OSRAM UK.While the promotions ran, product sales increased – excellent!

    Once the offer ended and the promotional material was removed, sales declined – expected!

    Once reinstated, sales increased again – sounds obvious!

    Yet, our analysis showed that during the campaign, the number of claims was very low – very interesting!!

     

    So low in fact they only accounted for a very small proportion of the sales increase.

    Fair to say, the visual presence of the in-branch promotion and associated POS materials increased awareness and encouraged customers to purchase the product, and at full price.

    Only a few of these customers actually participated in the promotion and claimed the incentivised price/free gift.

    Seducing ‘brand switchers’ at the trade counter. A diagram showing the relationships between Sell-In, Sell-Out and Sell-At promotional strategies.

    We have termed this the ‘Sell-At’ strategy —  in-branch promotional materials, raising product awareness and encouraging impulse purchase.

    MAYDAY: Trade promotions can be a very effective, yet costly tactical marketing tool if poorly planned!

    Whether it’s a price promotion, BOGOF, or loyalty program. The value of this year’s campaign will be used as a basis for next year’s negotiations with the wholesaler/distributor.

    Next year, they’ll want the same as this year, plus a bit more…things can quickly spiral out of financial control.

    Need to think tactically and need some help? Please reach out!

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