THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
According to Peter Drucker; the aim of marketing is to acquire more shares of the market and maintain them to increase sales. By considering enormous changes in the economic conditions of the world, it can be seen that every nation tries to create or maintain advantage for itself and with the help of the marketing buying science, increase its enjoyment of the created or maintained competitive advantages. In this respect, organization with better communications with customers through utilization of effective promotional methods along with acquiring better consumer understanding, have able to attract and maintain customer loyalty. The importance of promotional activities is especially evident in industries with competition. These promotional tools or activities can aid organizations in their endeavor to acquire more shares of market and maintain them. According to Kotler Sales promotion describes incentives and rewards to get customers to buy now rather than later. Where advertising is a long-run tool for shaping the market’s attitude toward a brand, sales promotion is a short-term tool to trigger buyer action. No wonder brand managers increasingly rely on sales promotion, especially when falling behind in achieving sales quotas. Sales promotions work! Sales promotions yield faster and more measurable responses in sales than advertising does. Today the split between advertising and sales promotion may be 30–70, the reverse of what it used to be.
Sales promotions in general should be used sparingly. Incessant price-offs, coupons, deals, and premiums can devalue the brand in the consumers’ minds. They can lead customers to wait for the next promotion instead of buying now. Companies are forced to use more sales promotion than they want by the trade. The trade demands discounts and allowances as a condition for putting the product on the shelf. The trade may demand consumer promotions also. So many