Sales and Marketing Management

Sessions list
1. Understanding Market & Sales, Types of Customers, STP model, and
2. Marketing Mix.

Session 01: Understanding Market & Sales, Types of Customers, STP model, and
Marketing Mix.

What Is Marketing?

Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the
shortest definitions of marketing is ―meeting needs profitably. Marketing is the process of
planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas,
goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational goals. It
is too often confused and identified with advertising or selling techniques, and the
practices and theories are all too often invisible to the average consumer. Marketing is
everywhere. Formally or informally, people and organisations engage in a vast number of
activities that could be called marketing. For example, when applying for a job, a
candidate through his resume markets himself. He/She tries to identify what the recruiter is
looking for and accordingly highlights those skills, experiences or qualifications.

Marketing vs Sales

The term ‘sales’ includes all the activities involved in selling an offering in exchange for
something of value. Many consider sales to be the food that the business needs to survive
in the long run. But while the term ‘sale’ refers to the actual transaction, the term ‘sales’
also encompasses all the activities which lead to this transaction.
In every business today, we often come across the concept of marketing and selling,
several times. The concept of marketing focuses firstly on the customer’s requirements,
and then the means to fulfil that need is identified.  In marketing, the customer
creates market demand. On the other hand, the concept of selling emphasises only the
requirements of the seller; therefore, in this process, the seller rules the market. Though the
terms marketing and selling sound familiar, however, there is a fine line that differentiates
between these two concepts, which includes activities, process, outlook, management
etc. In simple words, selling transforms goods into money, but marketing is the method of
serving and satisfying customer needs.  The marketing process includes the planning of a
product’s and service’s price, promotion and distribution. The selling theory believes that if

companies and customers are dropped and detached, then the customers are not going
to purchase enough commodities produced by the enterprise. 
In the sales process, a salesperson sells whatever products the production department has
produced. The sales method is aggressive, and customers’ genuine needs and satisfaction
is taken for granted. The marketing theory is a business plan, which affirms that the
enterprise’s profit lies in growing more efficiently than the opponents, in manufacturing,
producing and imparting exceptional consumer value to the target marketplace.
Marketing is a comprehensive and important activity of a company. The task generally
comprises recognising consumer needs, meeting those needs and ending in customer
feedback.  In between, activities such as production, packaging, pricing, promotion,
distribution and then selling will take place. Consumer needs are of high priority and act as
a driving force behind all these actions. Their main focus is a long run of business ending
up with profits.

Types of Customers, Consumer behaviour & Customer Segments

Consumer behaviour is the  study of how individual customers, groups or organisations

select, buy, use, and dispose of ideas, goods, and services  to satisfy their needs and
wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying
motives for those actions. It includes the decisions and activities involved in the purchase
of a specific product alternative. It encompasses all the factors that influence the process
of consumer need recognition, choice of alternative and product consumption.

What are the types of consumers?

Each one has unique traits, but it is important to note that your customers can be a
combination of these seven types of customers.

● Loyal customer.
● Need-based customer.
● Impulsive customer.
● New customer.
● Potential customer
● Discount customer
● Wandering customers.

STP Model

STP marketing  is an acronym for  Segmentation,  Targeting, and  Positioning  – a three-step

model that examines your products or services as well as the way you communicate their
benefits to specific customer segments.

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is the process of dividing a customer base into distinct groups of
individuals that have similar characteristics. This process makes it easier to target specific
groups of customers with tailored products, services, and marketing strategies. By
segmenting customers into different classes, businesses can better understand their needs,
preferences, and buying patterns, allowing them to create more personalised and
effective marketing campaigns.

What are the 4 types of customer segmentation?

1. Demographic Segmentation: This type of segmentation divides customers into different

groups based on shared characteristics such as age, gender, income, occupation,
education level, marital status and location.
2. Psychographic Segmentation: This type of segmentation divides customers into
different groups based on their lifestyles, interests, values and attitudes.
3. Behavioural Segmentation: This type of segmentation divides customers into different
groups based on their purchase history, usage patterns, brand loyalty and response to
marketing campaigns.
4. Geographic Segmentation: This type of segmentation divides customers into different
groups based on location, such as country, region, city or neighbourhood.

What is a customer segmentation example?

Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing customers into distinct groups with
common characteristics. Examples of customer segmentation include geographic
segmentation (dividing customers by region), demographic segmentation (dividing
customers by age, gender, marital status, etc.), behavioural segmentation (dividing
customers by purchase behaviour, usage patterns, loyalty, etc.), and psychographic
segmentation (dividing customers by attitudes, values, lifestyle, etc.).

Targeting

Step two of the STP marketing model is targeting. Your main goal here is to look at the
segments you have created before and determine which of those segments are most
likely to generate desired conversions

Your ideal segment is actively growing, has high profitability, and has a low cost of
acquisition:

1. Size: Consider how large your segment is as well as its future growth potential.
2. Profitability: Consider which of your segments are willing to spend the most money
on your product or service. Determine the lifetime value of customers in each
segment and compare.
3. Reachability: Consider how easy or difficult it will be for you to reach each segment
with your marketing efforts. Consider customer acquisition costs (CACs) for each
segment. Higher CAC means lower profitability. 

Positioning

The final step in this framework is positioning, which allows you to set your product
or services apart from the competition in the minds of your target audience. There
are a lot of businesses that do something similar to you, so you need to find what it
is that makes you stand out.

All the different factors that you considered in the first two steps should have made
it easy for you to identify your niche. Three positioning factors can help you gain a
competitive edge:

1. Symbolic positioning: Enhance the self-image, belongingness, or even ego

of your customers. The luxury car industry is a great example of this – they
serve the same purpose as any other car but they also boost their
customer’s self-esteem and image.
2. Functional positioning: Solve your customer’s problems and provide them
with genuine benefits.
3. Experiential positioning: Focus on the emotional connection that your
customers have with your product, service, or brand.  

Example: PEPSI VS COCA COLA

 Back in the 1980s, when Pepsi-Cola was trying to claim some of the market shares from
Coca-Cola, Pepsi used segmentation to target certain key audiences. They focused on
an  attitude and loyalty segmentation  approach  and divided the market into three
consumer segments:

1. Consumers with a positive attitude to the Coke brand who were 100% loyal to
Coke.
2. Consumers with a positive attitude to the Pepsi brand who were 100% loyal to
Coke.
3. Consumers with a positive attitude to both brands, with loyalty to both, switched
their purchases between both brands.

 Session 02: Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix

Product

Marketing Mix is a set of marketing tools or tactics, used to promote a product or service in
the market and sell it. It is about positioning a product and deciding whether it sells in the
right place, at the right price and right time. The product will then be sold, according to
marketing and promotional strategy. The components of the marketing mix consist of 4Ps
Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Product

A product is a commodity, produced or built to satisfy the need of an individual or a

group. The product can be intangible or tangible as it can be in the form of services or
goods. It is important to do extensive research before developing a product.

It should create an impact in the mind of the customers, which is exclusive and different
from the competitor’s product. There is an old saying stating for marketers, “What can I do
to offer a better product to this group of people than my competitors”. This strategy also
helps the company to build brand value.

Packaging

One of the most important developments affecting the business world in recent years has
been in the area of packaging. Many products, which we thought could never lend
themselves to packing because of their nature, have been successfully packed e.g.,
Pulses, Ghee, Milk, Salt, Cold Drinks, etc. Packaging refers to the act of designing and
producing the container or wrapper of a product. Packaging plays a very important role
in the marketing success or failure of many products, particularly consumer non-durable
products. If one analyzes the reasons for the success of some of the successful products in
the recent past, it can be noted that packaging has played its due role. For example, it
was one of the important factors in the success of products like Maggie’s Noodles, Uncle
Chips or Crax wafers.

Levels of Packaging

There can be three different levels of packaging. These are as below:

1. Primary Package:
It refers to the product’s immediate container. In some cases, the primary package
is kept till the consumer is ready to use the product (e.g., plastic packet for socks);

 whereas in other cases, it is kept throughout the entire life of the product (e.g., a
toothpaste tube, a matchbox, etc.).

2. Secondary Packaging:
It refers to additional layers of protection that are kept till the product is ready for
use, e.g., a tube of shaving cream usually comes in a cardboard box. When
consumers start using the shaving cream, they will dispose of the box but retain the
primary tube.

3. Transportation Packaging:
It refers to further packaging components necessary for storage, identification or
transportation. For example, a toothpaste manufacturer may send the goods to
retailers in corrugated boxes containing 10, 20, or 100 units.

1 2 3

Labelling
A simple-looking but important task in the marketing of goods relates to designing the
label to be put on the package. The label may vary from a simple tag attached to the
product (such as in the case of local unbranded products like sugar, wheat, pulses, etc.)
indicating some information about the quality or price, to complex graphics that are part
of the package, like the ones on branded products. Labels are useful in providing detailed
information about the product, its contents, method of use, etc.

1. Describe the Product and specify its contents:

Let us look at some of the labels of the products used by us in our day-to-day life. The label
on the package a popular brand of Prickly Heat Powder describes how the product
provides relief from prickly heat and controls bacterial growth and infection, giving
caution forbidding its application on cuts and wounds.

The Package of a brand of Coconut Oil describes the product as pure coconut oil with
Heena, Amla, and Lemon and specifies how these are good for Hair. Thus, one of the
most important functions of labels is to describe the product, its usage, cautions in use,
etc. and specify its contents.

1. Identification of the Product or brand:

The other important function performed by labels is to help in identifying the
product or brand. For example, the brand name of any product, say Biscuits
or Potato Chips imprinted on its package helps us to identify, from several
packages, which one is our favourite brand.
2. Grading of Products:
Another important function performed by labels is to help grade the
products into different categories. Sometimes marketers assign different
grades to indicate different features or quality of the product. For Example,
Different type of tea is sold by some brands under the Yellow, red and Green
Label categories.
3. Helps in the Promotion of Products:

An important function of a label is to aid in the promotion of the products. A

carefully designed label can attract attention and give a reason to
purchase. We see many product labels providing promotional messages, for
example, the pack of a popular Amla Hair Oil states, ‘Baalon mein Dum, Life
mein Fun’.

2. Providing Information Required by Law:

Another important function of labelling is to provide the information required by law. For
example, packaged food articles must have a list of ingredients declaration regarding
vegetarian or non-vegetarian food additives and the date of manufacturing or packing
on the label.

 Branding:

A very important decision area for marketing most consumer products is whether to sell
the product in its generic name (name of the category of the product, said Fan, Pen,
etc.) or to sell them in a brand name (such as Polar Fan or Rottomac Pen). A brand
name helps in creating product differentiation, i.e., providing the basis for distinguishing
the product of the firm from that of the competitor, which in turn, helps in building
customer loyalty and in promoting its sale. The important decision areas in respect of
branding include deciding the branding strategy, say whether each product will be
given a separate brand name or the same brand name will be extended to all
products of the company, say Phillips bulbs, tubes and television or Videocon washing
machine, television, and refrigerator. The selection of the brand name plays an
important role in the success of a product.

Brand:

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or some combination of them, used to
identify the products— goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of the competitors. For example, some of the common
brands are Bata, Lifebuoy, and Dunlop.

Brand Name:

That part of a brand, which can be spoken, is called a brand name. In other words, the
brand name is the verbal component of a brand.

Brand Mark:

That part of a brand which can be recognised but is not utterable is called a brand
mark. It appears in the form of a symbol, design, distinct colour scheme or lettering.

Trade Mark: A brand or part of a brand that is given legal protection is called a
trademark. The protection is given against its use by other firms. Thus the firm, which
got its brand registered, gets the exclusive right for its use. In that case, no other firm
can use such a name or mark in the country.

Following are some of the considerations, which should be kept in mind while choosing
a brand name.

(i) The brand name should be short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognise and
remember e.g., Ponds, VIP, Rin, Vim, etc.

(ii) A brand should suggest the product’s benefits and qualities. It should be
appropriate to the

product’s function.

(iii) A brand name should be distinctive.

(iv) The brand name should be adaptable to packing or labelling requirements,

different advertising media and different languages.

(v) The brand name should be sufficiently versatile to accommodate new products,
which

 are added to the product line.

(vi) It should be capable of being registered and protected legally.

(vii) Chosen name should have staying power i.e., it should not get out of date.

Price
Price may therefore be defined as the amount of money paid by a buyer (or received by
a seller) in consideration of the purchase of a product or a service.

Pricing occupies an important place in the marketing of goods and services by a firm. No
product can be launched without a price tag or at least some guidelines for pricing.
Pricing is often used as a regulator of the demand for a product. Generally, if the price of
a product is increased, its demand comes down, and vice-versa. Pricing is considered to
be an effective competitive weapon. In the conditions of perfect competition, most of
the firms compete with each other based on this factor. It is also the single most important
factor affecting the revenue and profits of a firm. Thus, most marketing firms give high
importance to the fixation of price for their products and services.

Factors Affecting Price Determination

There are several factors which affect the fixation of the price of a product. Some of the
important factors in this regard are discussed below:

1. Product cost
One of the most important factors affecting the price of a product or service is its cost. This
includes the cost of producing, distributing and selling the product. The cost sets the
minimum level or the floor price at which the product may be sold. Generally, all
marketing firms strive to cover all their costs, at least in the long run. In addition, they aim
at earning a margin of profit over and above the costs. In certain circumstances, for
example, at the time of introducing a new product or while entering a new market, the
products may be sold at a price, which does not cover all the costs. But in the long run, a
firm cannot survive unless at least all its costs are covered. There are broadly three types of
costs: viz., Fixed Costs, Variable Costs and Semi Variable Costs. Fixed costs are those costs,
which do not vary with the level of activity of a firm say with the volume of production or
sale. For example, the rent of a building or the salary of a sales manager remains the same
whether 1000 units or 10 units are produced in a week. Those costs which vary in direct
proportion to the level of activity are called variable costs. For example, the costs of raw
material, labour and power are directly related to the number of goods produced. Let us
say if the cost of wood for manufacturing one chair comes to 100 the cost of wood for 10
chairs would be 1000. There will be no cost of wood if no chair is produced. Semi-variable
costs are those costs which vary with the level of activity but are not in direct proportion
with it. For example, the compensation of a salesperson may include a fixed salary of say
10,000 plus a commission of 5 per cent on sales. With an increase in the volume of sales,
the total compensation will increase but not in direct proportion to the change in the
volume of sales. Total Costs are the total of the fixed, variable and semi-variable costs for
the specific level of activity, says the volume of sales or quantity produced.

2. The Utility and Demand:

While the product costs set the lower limits of the price, the utility provided by the product
and the intensity of demand of the buyer sets the upper limit of price, which a buyer
would be prepared to pay. The price must reflect the interest of both the parties to the
transaction—the buyer and the seller.

The buyer may be ready to pay up to the point where the utility of the product is at least
equal to the sacrifice made in terms of the price paid. The seller would, however, try to at
least cover the costs. According to the law of demand, consumers usually purchase more
units at a low price than at a high price.

3. Extent of Competition in the upper limit where would the price settle down:

This is affected by the nature and the degree of competition. The price will tend to reach
the upper limit in case there is a lesser degree of competition while under conditions of
free competition, the price will tend to be set at the lowest level. Competitors’ prices and
their anticipated reactions must be considered before fixing the price of a product. Not
only the price but the quality and the features of the competitive products must be
examined carefully, before fixing the price.

4. Government and Legal Regulations:

To protect the interest of the public against unfair practices in the field of price fixing
Government can intervene and regulate the price of commodities. Government can
declare a product as an essential product and regulate its price. For example, the cost of
a drug manufactured by a company having a monopoly in the production of the same
come to 20 per strip of ten and the buyer is prepared to pay any amount for it, say 200. In
the absence of any competitor, the seller may be tempted to extort the maximum
amount of 200 for the drug and intervene to regulate the price. Usually, in such a case,
the Government does not allow the firms to charge such a high price and intervene to
regulate the price of the drug. This can be done by the Government by declaring the
drug as an essential commodity and regulating its price.

5. Pricing Objectives:

Pricing objectives are another important factor affecting the fixation of the price of a
product or a service. Generally, the objective is stated to be to maximise the profits. But
there is a difference in maximising profit in the short run and the long run. If the firm
decides to maximise profits in the short run, it would tend to charge a maximum price for
its products. But if it is to maximise its total profit in the long run, it would opt for a lower per-
unit price so that it can capture a larger share of the market and earn greater profits
through increased sales.

Pricing Strategies:
1. Premium pricing: High price is used as a defining criterion. Such pricing strategies work
in segments and industries where a strong competitive advantage exists for the
company. Example: Baskin & Robbins in ice-creams and Reid & Taylor in suiting.

2. Penetration pricing: Price is set artificially low to gain market share quickly. This is done
when a new product is being launched. It is understood that prices will be raised once

 the promotion period is over and market share objectives are achieved. Examples:
Mobile phone rates in India; housing loan interest rates, hotel tariffs, etc.

3. Economy pricing: No-frills price. Margins are wafer thin; overheads like marketing and
advertising costs are very low. Targets the mass market and high market share.
Example: Friendly wash detergents; Nirma; local tea producers.

4. Skimming strategy: High price is charged for a product till competitors allow it, after
which prices can be dropped. The idea is to recover maximum money before the
product or segment attracts more competitors which will lower profits for all
concerned. Example: the earliest prices for mobile phones, VCRs and other electronic
items where a few players ruled initially and attracted lower-cost Asian players later in
the US and European markets.

Place

The element Placed in the marketing mix strategy ensures the availability of the product to
the intended end consumer. We need to ensure 3 specific aspects of availability –

1. The right place - Groceries must be made available at every local supermarket or the

next-door Kirana store. A hatchback car, however, will only be available for purchase
in company showrooms.
2. The right time - Umbrellas must hit the market before the onset of monsoon season and
must be available throughout the season, to be replaced with  woollen caps and
mufflers as winter sets in. Winter wear available in the hot months will attract negligible
sales because of seasonality.
3. The right quantity  - You buy only  one  LED TV set  after browsing through numerous
models at different digital stores, all offering appealing features at a broad price
range. However, while purchasing vegetables, you visit just a handful of roadside stalls,
observe only a few aspects ensuring the freshness of the product, and buy by weight.

Distribution
Place in the marketing mix, in layman's terms, means distribution. This is because the place
of production isn’t the same as the place of consumption. Companies establish processes
to implement distribution methods to overcome this gap between manufacturers and the
consumer marketplace. The product can be distributed by the company in various ways.
And this may involve various stakeholders at different levels.

Direct Distribution

This means the producer makes the product available in the consumer market and
performs sales by themself. Consider an IT company implementing an ERP system for order
processing for a regional food franchise. The IT firm will deliver the customised product to
the food joint, which will directly utilise the benefits of the ERP system for its daily operations



 and strategic planning. Firms shipping directly to customers need to manage their own
logistics systems, warehousing and resources. Due to the one-to-one interaction between
the company and the customer, firms focus on building customer loyalty through their
relationships with different elements of the brand.

Though requirements are capital intensive, the distribution process itself, due to being
shorter, incurs less per unit cost compared to other channels of distribution.

Indirect Distribution

By intuition, this involves various intermediaries in the process of distributing the product to
the consumer market. These intermediaries are middlemen, including any number of levels
from agents to wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

Consider the journey of a bar of Lux soap from its manufacturing plant in Dankuni, on the
outskirts of Calcutta, to your local supermarket. The product, along with thousands of
others, is shipped to a network of redistribution stockists across the country, which further
distribute smaller quantities to retail outlets reaching the entire urban population. Often,
even from these retail outlets, the stock is supplied to grocery stores, chemists, kiosks and
general stores.

Apart from this channel of distribution, HUL also has relations with numerous channel
partners who partner with self-service stores and supermarkets as a lower-level distribution
channel.

Within indirect distribution, you can have multiple levels of distribution based on several
middlemen involved in the distribution process.

Elements of Distribution Mix

A product mix has numerous product levels of various product lines within the mix. Similarly,
the distribution mix has various elements which make products competitive in the market.

Here are the elements of the distribution mix

1. Channels of distribution

2. Warehousing decision

3. Product handling

4. Transport

5. Inventory Control

6. Order processing

7. Coverage

 Promotion

A company may produce a good quality product, price it appropriately and make it
available at the selling points, which are convenient to customers. But in spite of all this,
the product may not sell well in the market. There is a need for developing proper
communication with the market. In the absence of communication, the customers would
not be able to know about the product and how it can satisfy their needs and wants or
may not be convinced about its utility and benefits.

Promotion refers to the use of communication with the twin objective of informing
potential customers about a product and persuading them to buy it. In other words,
promotion is an important element of the marketing mix by which marketers makes use of
various tools of communication to encourage the exchange of goods and services in the
market.

Promotion Mix

Promotion mix refers to the combination of promotional tools used by an organisation to

achieve its communication objectives. Various tools of communication are used by
marketers to inform and persuade customers about their firm’s products. These include:

● Advertising
● Personal Selling
● Sales Promotion
● Publicity

For example, consumer goods firms may use more advertising through mass media while
industrial goods firms may be using more personal selling. What combination of these
elements is used by a firm will depend upon various factors such as the nature of the
market, natural product, the promotions budget, the objectives of promotion, etc.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion refers to short-term incentives, which are designed to encourage buyers
to make immediate purchases of a product or service. These include all promotional
efforts other than advertising, personal selling and publicity, used by a company to boost
its sales. Sales promotion activities include offering cash discounts, sales contests, free gift
offers, and free sample distribution. Sales promotion is usually undertaken to supplement
other promotional efforts such as advertising and personal selling.

Companies use sales promotion tools specifically designed to promote to customers (e.g.,
free samples, discounts, and contests), tradesmen or middlemen (e.g., cooperative
advertising, dealer discounts and dealer incentives and contests) and to salesperson (e.g.,
bonus, salesmen contests, special offers). Sales promotions include only those activities
that are used to provide short-term incentives to boost the sales of a firm.

Merits of Sales Promotion

(i) Attention Value: Sales promotion activities attract the attention of the people because
of the use of incentives.

 (ii) Useful in New Product Launch: Sales promotion tools can be very effective at the time
of the introduction of a new product in the market. It induces people to break away from
their regular buying behaviour and try new products.
(iii) Synergy in Total Promotional Efforts: Sales promotion activities are designed to
supplement the personal selling and advertising efforts used by a firm and add to the
overall effectiveness of the promotional efforts of a firm.

Limitation of Sales Promotion

(i) Reflects Crisis: If a firm frequently relies on sales promotion, it may give the impression
that it is unable to manage its sales or that there are no takers of its product.
(ii) Spoils Product Image: The use of sales promotion tools may affect the image of a
product. The buyers may start feeling that the product is not of good quality or is not
appropriately priced.

Commonly used sales Promotion activities

1. Rebate: Offering products at special prices, to clear off excess inventory. For example, a
car manufacturer offers to sell a particular brand of car at a discount of ` 10,000, for a
limited period.
2. Discount: Offering products at less than the list price. For example, a shoe company’s
offer of ‘Discount Up to 50%’ or a shirt marketer’s offer of ‘50+40% Discount’.
3. Refunds: refunding a part of the price paid by the customer on some proof of purchase,
say on the return of empty foils or wrapper. This is commonly used by food product
companies, to boost their sales.
4. Product combinations: Offering another product as a gift along with the purchase of a
product, say offer of a pack of ½ kg of rice with the purchase of a bag of Aatta (wheat
flour), or ‘Get 128 KB Memory Card Free with a Digicam’ or Buy a TV of 25+ and Get a
Vacuum Cleaner Free’ or ‘100 Gm Bottle of Sauce Free With 1 kg Detergent.’
5. Quantity gift: Offering an extra quantity of the product commonly used by the marketer
of toiletry products. For example, a shaving cream’s offer of
40% extra’ or A Hotel’s offer of “Take a 2 Night 3 Days Package At the Hotel and Get an
extra Night Stay At Just 500” or ‘Buy 2 Get 1 Free’ offer of a marketer of shirts.
6. Instant Draws and Assigned Gift: For example, ‘Scratch a Card’ or ‘Burst a Cracker’ and
instantly win a refrigerator, Car, T-shirt, or Computer, with the purchase of a TV.
7. Lucky Draw: For example, the offer of a bathing soap to win a gold coin on a lucky
draw coupon for free petrol on the purchase of a certain quantity of
petrol from a given petrol pump or a lucky draw coupon on a purchase of easy
undergarments and win a car offer.
8. Usable Benefit: Purchase goods worth ` 3000 and get a holiday package worth ` 3000
free’ or ‘Get a Discount Voucher for Accessories on Apparel purchases of ` 1000 and
above.’
9. Full finance @ 0%: Many marketers of consumer durables such as Electronic goods,
automobiles etc offer easy financing schemes such as ‘24 easy instalments, Eight Up Front
and 16 To Be Paid as Post Dated Cheques’. However, one should be careful about the file
charges, which sometimes are nothing but interest recovered in advance.
10. Sampling: Offer of free sample of a product, say a detergent powder or toothpaste to
potential customers at the time of the launch of a new brand.
11. Contests: Competitive events involving the application of skills or luck, say solving a
quiz or answering some questions.