Lecture 7

Retail marketing
communications
 Objectives

• To explain the main marketing communications tools

available to retail organisations
• To consider the role of integrated marketing
communications and the role played by each
communication channel
• To explore the differences between in-store and online
promotion techniques
• To evaluate the suitability of communication methods
and media within a retailing context
 Introduction

• The term Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is

often used to emphasise that different communication
strategies need to be complementary and well blended.

• The traditional emphasis of promotion has been on

winning new customers but there is now more focus on
adopting techniques to retaining existing customers,
placing greater emphasis on Relationship Marketing.
 Retail marketing communication
strategies

• The most effective communications strategies differ according

to the type of retailer e.g. own-label/branded and product
sector.

• Retailers can also use their layout, store design, web design
and customer service to communicate their brand.

• Promotional objectives stem from a retailer’s overall strategy.

• Long-term objectives focus on promoting the retailer holistically,

whereas short-term objectives concentrate more on specific
products and pricing.
 Retail marketing communication
strategies

• A push strategy is where a brand pushes products through

distribution channels by promoting them to retailers to ensure
they reach consumers.

• A pull strategy is when products are promoted to persuade

consumers to seek them out (Gilbert, 2003).
 Pull vs. Push Strategies
Pull Strategy: The retailer is being pulled into stocking item
by consumer demand.

Promotion Attract Purchas Pressures Retailer

Consumer e to stock item

Push Strategy: “The use of incentives to motivate the buying and

reselling of products” (Duncan, 2005, p. 738).

(Kotler et al. 2007, p.635) 6

Figure 7.1 Planning a retail promotional strategy
Source: adapted from Berman and Evans (2010)
 Promotional Objectives

• Get leads for sales personnel

• Present and reinforce the retailer image
• Inform customers about goods and services
• Popularize new stores and Web sites
• Enhance customer relations
• Maintain customer loyalty
• Have consumers pass on positive comments
 Retail advertising
• Advertising is promotional communication from organisations to
the public in paid-for media outlets.

• Advertising is often referred to as ‘above-the-line’ promotion,

whereas other types of promotion are known as ‘below-the-line’
methods.

• Above the line - largely non-targeted and have a wide reach.

E.g. TV, radio, print advertisements.

• Below the line – very specific, memorable and direct

advertising activities focused on targeted groups of consumers,
e.g. store windows, catalogues or websites.

• New trend - Through the Line advertising

• https://www.feedough.com/atl-btl-ttl-marketing/
• AIDA model – one of the most
fundamental theories for
advertising.
• Advertising prioritises gaining
attention and interest,
otherwise the message will be
wasted.
• The AIDA model can also be
relevant to other forms of
promotion.

Figure 7.2 The AIDA model

 Advertising Objectives for Retailers

• Lift short-term sales

• Increase customer traffic
• Develop and/or reinforce a retail image
• Inform customers about goods and
services and/or company attributes
• Ease the job for sales personnel
• Develop demand for private brands
 Advertising Characteristics
Advantages
 Attracts a large audience
 Gains pass along readership (for
print)
 Low cost per contact
 Many alternatives available
 Control over message content;
message can be standardized
 Message study possible
 Editorial content surrounds ad
 Self-service operations possible
Disadvantages
Standardized messages
lack flexibility
Some media require
large investments
Geographic flexibility
limited
Some media require
long lead time
Some media have high
throwaway rate
Some media limit the
ability to provide
detailed information
Figure 7.3 Main advertising media channels
Table 7.3 Comparisons between the main types of advertising media
 Comparisons between the main types of advertising
Table 7.3
media (Continued)
 Public Relations
• Public Relations - Communication that
fosters a favorable image for the retailer
• Nonpersonal or personal
• Paid or nonpaid
• Sponsor-controlled or not

• Publicity – Nonpersonal form of public

relations whereby messages are transmitted
by mass media. The time or space provided
by the media is not paid for, and there is no
identified commercial sponsor
 Public relations (PR)

• PR generates interest and goodwill for retailers through

sending press releases and photographs to appropriate
media and organising events such as product launches,
as well as other methods.
• New product innovations; rebranding; successes;
changes in personnel and financial statements could be
considered newsworthy.
• ‘Gifting’ is a PR technique used by many large or
upmarket retailers, which involves giving its products
away to celebrities or other opinion leaders e.g.
bloggers, to influence consumers.
 Public Relations Objectives for Retailers

• Increase awareness of the retailer and its

strategy mix
• Maintain or improve the company image
• Show the retailer as a contributor to the
public’s quality of life
• Demonstrate innovativeness
• Present a favorable message in a highly
believable manner
• Minimize total promotion costs
https://www.betterteam.com/public-relations-job-description
 Public Relations Characteristics
Advantages
 Image can be presented or
enhanced
 More credible source
 No costs for message’s
time or space
 Mass audience addressed
 Carryover effects possible
 People pay more attention
than to clearly identified
ads
Disadvantages
Some retailers do not
believe in spending on
image-related
communication
Little control over
publicity message
More suitable for short
run
Costs for PR staff,
planning activities and
events
 Sponsorship

• Sporting events are key areas for sponsorship, enabling

retailers to place logos on sportspeople’s clothing and at
sites associated with the events, without paying for
advertising space directly.
• Several retailers use sponsorship by supporting
educational initiatives related to their products or local
communities.
• In return, the sponsors gain exposure of the brand name
that stands out from above-the-line advertising.
• Retailers need to be selective in the choice of people or
organisations being sponsored, as they need to be
consistent with brand personality.
 Sales Promotion

Encompasses the paid communication

activities other than advertising, public
relations, and personal selling that
stimulate consumer purchases and
dealer effectiveness
 Sales Promotions Objectives
for Retailers
• Increasing short-term sales volume
• Maintaining customer loyalty
• Emphasizing novelty
• Complementing other promotion tools
• Stimulate impulse and reminder buying
• Raise customer traffic
 Types of Sales Promotions

• Displays • Prizes
• Contests • Samples
• Sweepstakes • Demonstrations
• Coupons • Referral gifts
• Frequent • Other limited-
shopper time selling
programs efforts

24
Table 7.4 Sales promotion techniques
 Sales Promotion Characteristics

Advantages
 Eye-catching appeal
 Distinctive themes Disadvantages
 Added customer value Difficult to terminate
 Draws customer traffic Possible damage to
 Maintains loyalty retailer’s image
 Increases impulse More stress on frivolous
purchases selling points
 Fun for customers Short-term effects only
Used as a supplement
 Personal Selling

Oral communication with one or more

prospective customers for the purpose
of making a sale
Personal Selling Objectives for Retailers
• Persuade customers to buy
• Stimulate sales of impulse items or products related
to customers’ basic purchases
• Complete customer transactions
• Feed information back to company decision makers
• Provide proper levels of customer service
• Improve and maintain customer satisfaction
• Create awareness of items also marketed through
the Web, mail, and telemarketing
 Personal Selling Characteristics
Advantages
 Message can be adapted Disadvantages
 Many ways to meet Limited number of
customer needs customers at one time
 High attention span High costs
 Less waste Doesn’t get customer in
 Better response store
 Immediate feedback Self-service discouraged
Negative attitudes
toward salespeople
 Direct marketing

• Direct marketing involves communicating directly with

existing or potential customers to promote companies
and their products, mainly via digital communication.
• Databases can be built up through various means,
loyalty cards being an effective way to acquire customer
contact details.
• Competitions in-store or online can be arranged by
retailers and brands with the main intention of gathering
email addresses.
• Certain retailers ask customers to sign up if they wish to
receive news and offers from the company.
 The direct
Retail advertising, distributing
the coupon

SMS message:

We miss you @ Domino’s.

Get 1 reg pizza @ RM11 &
save RM18.90. Order now!
Valid for takeaway/dine-in.
Code: xxxx,
Exp: xx/xx/xx.

Presentation title
 Marketing communications via digital
and social media
• There are three main classifications of digital media:
– Paid – This type of media is bought by the retailer to target
specific customers. It might include display advertising,
affiliate advertising and SEM (search engine marketing).
– Earned media – Here a retailer posts a story or image that is
considered of interest to other readers so the content is
posted, for free, on other digital media channels. This has
strong links to PR.
– Owned media – digital channels that the retailer owns,
including the company website, which is the hub for all
digital content, forming a promotional function as well as a
transactional one.
 Marketing communications via digital and
social media (Continued)
• Retailers are increasingly including consumer-
generated reviews on their transactional websites,
which can influence other customers in their
purchases.
• Advertising is a significant source of income for
social media companies.

• https://www.statista.com/outlook/216/122/digital-
advertising/malaysia
Marketing communications via digital and
social media (Continued)
– Search-engine marketing (SEM) and search-engine
optimisation (SEO)
– Sponsored adverts on search engine results and social
media
– Advertising on another company’s website, i.e. ‘affiliate
advertising’
– Using third party websites, e.g. adverts before YouTube
videos
– Blogging by the retailer or by independent bloggers
– Using non-paid-for social media accounts, e.g. Twitter and
Pinterest
https://blog.leightonbroadcasting.com/blog/clicks-impressions-and-conversions-
oh-my-digital-marketing-terms-you-need-to-know
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/04/29/google-q1-ad-
revenue/
 Word-of-mouth (WoM)

• WoM refers to consumers informing each other about

products, brands and retailers, making recommendations or
criticisms.
• Positive WoM has significant advantages over other forms of
promotion, since consumers may view their peers’ views as
objective, impartial and authentic .
• No costs are usually incurred for the retailer, but WoM is the
technique over which retailers have the least control.
• Consumers may be likely to consider friends, family, online
reviews and bloggers as more reliable sources than adverts.
 Word-of-mouth (WoM)

• However, retailers can undoubtedly have a

strong impact on the messages spread via
WoM by providing an effective marketing mix
and behaving with integrity.
• Retailers can give customers a platform to
facilitate an exchange of views, e.g. user
reviews on the website. Users share their
experiences (e.g. Huggies)
 Relationship Marketing

• Relationship marketing (RM) can help to build long-term

relationship between retailers and customers through various
types of interaction.
• Although RM is sometimes described as a new marketing
paradigm its roots go back to traditional forms of retailing ,
where the tradesperson knew customers personally.
• RM can encourage customers to feel an emotional connection
with a retailer that leads to long-term loyalty.
 Relationship Marketing (Continued)

• Many small retailers may practise RM without being

conscious of it, since it is natural for them to form
relationships with their customers, with whom they may
often be on first-name terms.
• Another term for RM is Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), an apt term for large companies
where a large amount of data exists about customers
that has to be managed in order to meet their
requirements
• RM is relevant to all aspects of the business that affect
customers’ interactions with a retailer and it can
therefore be considered as more than simply a method
of promotion.
 MONASH
BUSINESS

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