Strategic Marketing Mix for Retail Success

1. Chapter 33: Using the Marketing Mix Place

2. Importance of Location • Convenience • Accessibility • Cost of Access • Reputation / Tradition of the area • Localisation (retailers locating close together for consumer convenience)

3. Placement in the point of sale • Similar products being placed together so shoppers can make comparisons • Arranging brightly coloured, attractive displays so they’re visible from outside the store • Impulse buys being place by the checkouts to catch people’s attention while queuing • Popular products being given greater shelf space so they are more likely to be seen and so the store is unlikely to run out of stock • Loss leaders being scattered around the store, with some placed well away from the entrance, in order to encourage shoppers to walk around the whole store • Standard, everyday purchases, being placed at eye level, so that shoppers will find them easily • Complementary products being placed in close proximity

4. Number of outlets • Persuading retailers to stock products is often crucial to success – the more outlets that stock the product, the more sales a business can generate • Businesses can take a variety of measures to increase the number of outlets stocking their products: • Promotional campaigns • Providing extra facilities or attractive displays • Offering high profit margins to retailers • Paying generous commission to sales staff • Increasing brand variety • Getting sole brand deals • Investigating alternative outlets

5. Types of distribution channel • Movement of a product from the manufacturer to the consumer.

6. Factors influencing the method of distribution • The size of the retailer • The type of product • Technology • Geography of the market • The complexity of the product • The degree of control desired by the manufacturer (producer)