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Sales Promotion And Publicity
PERFORMANCE OF PROMOTIONAL FUNCTION BY wHOLESALER
The promotional function expected from a wholesaler includes a variety of selling tools such as personal
selling, samples and advertising. The success of the wholesaler depends upon his ability to distribute
sufficient quantities of goods at margins high enough to cover costs and achieve a profit. It is rare,
for a wholesaler to achieve a profitable volume level without exerting selling effort. The wholesaler
must formulate a selling plan which will reach marketing objectives, including achieving quotas set by
manufacturers, exerting special effort to gain preferential treatment from manufacturers of certain lines
and building goodwill for his own establishment so that future sales will be achieved with ease.
The wholesaler is faced with problems of how to determine the type, direction and amount of selling
efforts that will enable an operation to reach planned objectives. Promotional communication tools
which the wholesaler can use include:
• Personal selling
• Samples
• Advertising
• Displays, shows and exhibitions
• Demonstration of products
• PublicityFACTORS INFLUENCING wHOLESALERS ABILITY TO SELL
PRODUCT LINE: the composition of the wholesaler’s product line in terms of whether it is made up of
standardized or differentiated items, low unit value or high unit value items and other factors determine,
to a large extent, the selling support provided for the manufacturer. Lines composed of standardized,
relatively low unit-value supply items are easy for cataloguing and routine personal selling. Such product
line will require little need for the wholesaler to advertise as patronage appeals like availability, prompt
delivery and credit extension weigh more in customer’s minds than the brand of any particular product.
Conversely, wholesaler lines composed of products which are more highly differentiated or which have
unique appeal suggest different kinds and amount of selling effort. Products having industrial nature or
industrial equipment will require a higher usage of personal selling effort because the wholesaler must
locate customers, grant important presale services such as cost and engineering estimates and must reach
the many people who influence the final purchase decision.
Wholesalers of consumer goods usually adopt a different approach to promotion, because they deal with
numerous and differentiated products of low unit value with high rate of turnover. Such products require
intensive distribution to sell because they are convenience goods. The importance of the economies of
physical distribution makes the wholesalers in these industries concentrate on gaining coverage and on
selling themselves as efficient distributors.