How to increase retail sales

Hungarian consumer behaviour is changing and this influences the supply side: market players’ demands and tools related to supporting retail sales are changing. In order to stimulate sales efficiently they want more comprehensive advice on the whole marketing mix. The most important questions are: How big is the influence of individual marketing mix elements on retail sales? To what extent do expenditure on individual marketing tools makes returns? Nielsen’s Analytic Consulting services can answer these questions and many others. We conduct the highest number of analyses in the domain of pricing policy. Our partners want to know the consequences of increasing prices to various extents. For instance raising spirit prices by 10 percent may result in a 30-percent sales drop. In such cases many depends on the reaction of competitors, too. Another example is that of a branded carbonated soft drink sold in 2-litre PET bottles. When its promotion was planned we forecasted 15-percent higher sales if prices were reduced by 25 percent. But we said if the promotion was advertised in the retail chain’s leaflet, sales would surge as much as 38 percent. We added that if secondary placement on displays was also used, they would sell 84 percent more in promotion. We also forecasted cannibalisation, which needs to be decreased or avoided if possible. This is how efficient promotions are to be planned, making sure that expenditure returns as much as possible. n

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