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Promotional activities in trade and different ways to improve them
Zhurkina Liubov Sergeevna,
Ukhanova Julia Aleksandrovna, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, students, Department of Trade policy
Nikishin Alexander Fedorovich, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, associate professor, Department of Trade policy E-mail: ktdn@yandex.ru
Promotional activities in trade and different ways to improve them
Abstract: It is well known that advertising is one of the main means of improving the efficiency of trade. However, promotional activities do not always bring sufficient effectiveness. The main subject of this article is search of the causes of low efficiency of promotional activities in modern conditions, and finding the way how to resolve them. Keywords: trade, retail trade, sales promotion, advertising campaign, BTL-advertising.
The sphere of trade is characterized by a high level of competition. In order to operate business successfully, trade organizations need to carry out various actions to obtain sales. At present time, various promotional activities are widely used in trade. At the same time the number of outdoor advertising is so huge that the person will not just pay attention on it. Traditional methods of advertising every year more and more lose their effectiveness. Today’s fast rhythm of life and oversupply of information lead to the fact that people sometimes do not notice numerous outdoor advertising. This factor applies to an even greater degree to advertising on television. But on the other hand, no matter how the sphere of influence of BTL advertising is expending and so non-standard advertising proj ects are on the top. So an integral part of life of the typical citizens is different kinds of promotional activities which are often carried out directly in the place of trade. The retailers offer different activities such as tasting, consultations of the specific brand, the campaign “gift for purchase” and samplings (distribution of samples or probes, from the English. — Sampling).
Different types of BTL — advertising have been used for quite a long amount of time, however, the results of analysis give the information that the promotional activities are often not effective enough. In most cases it is possible either to perform a promotion at a lower cost, or to achieve a greater level of its effectiveness.
In the context of rapidly increasing competition among advertising agencies there is need of looking for the new ways of developing and solving urgent problems. Only then it is possible to improve the effectiveness of work and win a firm place in the field of advertising. The main purpose of the article is to identify the main problems faced by the trade organizations during activities of sales stimulating and to offer some solutions to these problems.
The problem of sales promotion is widely presented in the modern literature. For example, modern methods of stimulating are found in the work of Ruchina E. M. [1], the use of intangible assets and the objective to increase the efficiency of the trade organization in the work of Ivanov G. G. [2].
Features of promotional activities of wholesale enterprises are considered in the work of Bazhenov J. K. [3]. The main directions of development of managerial innovations in the advertising agency are addressed in article of Hapenkov V N. [4].
Promotional activities begin with different trainings for staff and promotional meetings for supervisors. The main topic of discussion is penalties for theft because theft is the biggest problem of the advertising agency for any time.
Promotional activities are held throughout the city and at the same time in several trade organizations. It one store are usually involved two or three promo employees and one stationary supervisor. Thus, a manager has approximately fifty employees and it is not possible to control them carefully.
Moreover, the work of manager is practically impossible to check and that is why often he does not perform his functions well or does not perform at all. This leads to the fact that the advertising product does not apply for promotions. It is derived from the weight of advertising material by the promoters and then they sell it in different places.
In the markets and in small-town kiosks it is easy to find promotional product which illegally overbought from supervisors. On the one hand, this leads to the fact that the promotional action is less effective because of the possible lack of advertising material, on the other hand, the number of legal sales is reduced.
Promotional material which uses in advertising campaigns is attractive not only for supervisors but also for employees themselves. Employees of security service do not let the promo staff go into the store until they get a pair of boxes with the name “sample is not for sale”.
The same price managers appoint for registration in the store and the allocation of space for advertising board. All this leads to the fact that a significant proportion of the target audience which is a potential customer for the trade organization is lost due to the simple lack of promotional products.
Store employees play a very important role in organization of various promotional activities. Meeting consultants, holding them up to the point of sale, a demonstration of the
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Section 12. Economics and management
main objects of the outlet, as well as awareness of the operating modes and in-store promotions is heed to help to increase the efficiency of BTL projects. More than that it must not be forgotten that this kind of trading activity brings an essential flow of customers and as a consequence, an increase in sales. However, in practice we are faced with a situation of an entirely different kind. Often, in trade organizations so constructed incentive system that interest in the final result of work for ordinary employees of commercial organizations absent. Or sale of products for which advertising campaign is conducted entirely merit considered supervisors. As a result, store managers perform only their essential job functions, and their interest in maintaining promotional activities offline. As a result the promotional staff spends a tremendous amount of time and effort to properly accommodate the trading floor or to find a particular utility room. Moreover, the absolute lack of motivation among employees entails more serious consequences. For example, promotional staff is controlled by nobody at the point of sale and it is one of the main reasons for theft of promotional products, inactive work, violation of rights and shares and graphics. And often the managers of retail outlets, mostly small format supermarkets, conduct not careful (or do not) check of documentation for the advertised product. Thus, all this leads to a decrease in the efficiency of promo-actions and sometimes even brings a negative effect and reduces the final consumer loyalty.
Job of advertising agencies now is also built inefficiently what affects the quality of advertising activity. In the current practice, client which order a promotional campaign of his products, also pays for auditors’ work. They are required to attend the stores during the promotional staff, to check supplies and reconcile them with reports, photo report and identify violations. But in reality, the auditors are permanent employees of the agency, as well as supervisors, so conspiracy staged photo reports, negligence verify compliance with the mechanics of the action and the falsification of statements are common.
Coordinators of the advertising agencies make not adequate reports on expenditures promotional materials. After carrying out the project with the mechanics of “gift with purchase” to the agency in strict order must be submitted photos checks or checks themselves (depending on the format of the store), which displayed the goods involved in the action. And coordinators shall verify the number of issued gift with positions in checks, the amount ofwhich reaches several hundred. Such routine work is carried out sometimes so carelessly that a huge disadvantage promotional product remains undetected. Quite a big problem is the big number of inaccurate marketing planning advertising products on a specific point of sale. So to make promo-action in a hypermarket is shipped the same party of product as in a small supermarket. A more correct analysis of the specific traffic of the stores will help reduce the percentage
of thefts in several times. For any issues, including the scope of BTL-advertising, you need to constantly look for new solutions in a rapidly changing economic environment. Ways of solving the above problems may be the following -it is necessary to tighten of the system of audit and control promotional staff from the advertising agency. The important clarification is that auditors should not be of the staff. Currently, the service sector widely uses the “Mystery Shopper”, while she checks conducted by an independent organization. This eliminates not only the opportunity for staff to meet with inspectors, but do inspection independently. It increases the efficiency of promotional staff, as employees are not aware of any of the individual auditor or the time and date of his visit. Moreover, such an inspection can be entrusted with the audit of production residues. Thus, the probability of theft is reduced.
In order to reduce the likelihood of theft can be offered individually labeled promotional material. In this case, appeared anywhere in the illegal sale of promotional material uniquely identifies the location of the leak, which will continue to take appropriate measures and reduce the number of such cases. State employees of any advertising agency because of the limit of funds is limited. However, the introduction of the post of coordinator of promotional products will not be much expensive for the organization, but on the contrary will bring all the material to the end user and thereby increase sales in the future. This worker delivers products in all outlets, monitors its movement in the process of promotions and also controls the presence and quantity of residues. The supervisor, who is with the promotional personnel in the course of promotional activities, does not have direct access to all promotional material. Store manager on receipt allocate the required amount of product.
When conducting promotions within trade organizations, shopping centers are also advisable to conclude the relevant contracts with their owners. This will stop the illegal actions of staff and improve the efficiency of advertising campaigns. Do not forget that the activities of advertising agencies are not only creative projects, but also a lot of statistical and mathematical calculations. For a thorough analysis of crossoutlet and forecast the expected sales plan allows the value of the handout, and products for promotions. It should be noted that the larger the size of a statistical sample, the average values are calculated to be exact — and it is possible to relatively accurate calculation of the amount required promo materials for promotions.
Continuous improvement of work motivation promo staff is undoubtedly very important. Prizes and gifts, as well as the enactment of interesting prizes with the active and increase the effectiveness of Fair Trading. Moreover, the design of promotional staff in permanent staff workers increases responsibility and therefore efficiency.
References:
1. Ручина Е. М., Никишин А. Ф. Методы стимулирования продаж в современной торговле.//Инновационная наука. -2015. - Т. 1. - № 5. - С. 249-252.
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On the issue of project management as a complex and multi-feature integrated process
2. Ivanov G. G., Mayorova E. A. Role and significance of intangible assets in ensuring the efficiency of economic activity of retail enterprises.//Journal of International Scientific Publications: Economy & Business. - 2013. - Т. 7. - С. 285.
3. Баженов Ю. К. Особенности рекламной деятельности оптовых и производственных предприятий. - Москва: Ин-форм.-внедренческий центр “Маркетинг", 2008.
4. Хапенков В. Н., Федюнин Д. В. Основные направления развития управленческих инноваций в рекламном агент-стве.//Известия Российского экономического университета им. Г. В. Плеханова. - 2011. - № 1 (1). - С. 88-91.
Zelentsova Anna Viktorovna, PhD student, Kazakh national conservatory after Kurmangazy, Kazakhstan, Almaty E-mail: bntb@mail.ru
On the issue of project management as a complex and multi-feature integrated process
Abstract: The proj ect consists of the processes, a process is a set of actions which brings results. Proj ect processes are typically performed by professionals and are broken down into two main groups: the project management processes — concerning the organization and descriptions of the project operation; product-centered processes — related to specifications and manufacture of the product. These processes are determined by project life cycle and depend on the area of application. The project management processes and product- centered processes, are superimposed and interact with each other.
Keywords: project planning, process of implementation and control, management ofproject execution, project completion.
Зеленцова Анна Викторовна, докторант, Казахская национальная консерватория имени Курмангазы, Казахстан, Алматы E-mail: bntb@mail.ru
К вопросу управления проектами как сложного и многостороннего интегрированного процесса
Аннотация: Проект состоит из процессов, процесс — это совокупность действий, приносящая результат. Процессы проекта обычно выполняются профессионалами и распадаются на две основные группы: процессы управления проектами — касающиеся организации и описания работ проекта; процессы, ориентированные на продукт—касающиеся спецификации и производства продукта. Эти процессы определяются жизненным циклом проекта и зависят от области приложения. Процессы управления проектами и процессы, ориентированные на продукт, накладываются друг на друга и взаимодействуют между собой.
Ключевые слова: планирование проекта, процессы исполнения и контроля, управление исполнением проекта, завершение проекта.
Для лучшего понимания интегрированной природы Управления Проектами опишем его через процессы, из которых оно состоит и их взаимосвязи. Под процессами понимаются действия и процедуры, связанные с реализацией функций управления. Такое понимание процессов принято в международном сообществе. Цели проекта не могут быть определены при отсутствии понимания того, как создать продукт [1]. Процессы управления проектами могут быть разбиты на шесть основных групп, реализующих различные функции управления: процессы инициации — принятие решения о начале выполнения проекта; процессы планирования — определение целей и критериев успеха
проекта и разработка рабочих схем их достижения; процессы исполнения — координация людей и других ресурсов для выполнения плана; процессы анализа — определение соответствия плана и исполнения проекта поставленным целям и критериям успеха и принятие решений о необходимости применения корректирующих воздействий; процессы управления — определение необходимых корректирующих воздействий, их согласование, утверждение и применение; процессы завершения — формализация выполнения проекта и подведение его к упорядоченному финалу. Кроме того, процессы управления проектами связаны своими результатами — результат выполнения одного
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