Project Affluent showcases how creative research helped to turbocharge the Audi brand.
Over the past decade, eCommerce has grown exponentially, with two massive markets, the US and China, ahead of the curve. Within each market, major FMCG companies have tried to optimize their product offer but selling online is different than selling offline, and tactics need to be adjusted to be successful. Sales on E-commerce platforms like Alibaba (T-Mall) and Amazon are affected by product findability and the inability to taste, feel or smell the product. Here we demonstrate how, with the sophisticated use of imagery, these challenges can be overcome.
This paper provides a comprehensive description and definition of the eBusiness landscape, how it affects healthcare, and opportunities created in the health industry and specifically in diabetes care. Marketing and sales managers are bombarded with hype about eCommerce, but much of the information is either too technical or presented by enthusiasts with a vested interest. The Internet is indeed not only a great opportunity as a new sales channel, but also contributes to improving the overall effectiveness of marketing communications, sales processing and customer service. Unfortunately, it can also be a way of wasting a lot of money. While one cannot ignore the potential of the Internet to add value to your companyâs sales and marketing activities, at the same time it would be unwise to expect eMarketing to be a panacea to cure a faltering marketing or sales strategy. The question is how to separate the hype from the real issue and how eBusiness can fit into the overall strategy of the companyâs marketing and sales strategy.
The rationale of this study was based on the argument that unless we have a clear understanding of the selling job in a relational selling context we are unable to advise the sales management of the firm in the quest of building and maintaining successful relationships between the firm and its customers. Our exploratory study highlighted a number of key issues which, in our opinion, are promising for the development of the theory and practice of relationship orientated sales management of the firm.
The Audi experience illustrates a number of more general points for consideration. First, that good lost sales research should encompass both the âbuyerâ and the âsellerâ; the insights gained in this study and the specificity of resulting actions resulted from the ability to compare and contrast these opposing forces. Secondly, that the tendency to regard dealers more as a liability than an asset is misplaced. This lost sales research process could not have worked without the insights of those at the grass roots of the business, and whilst the findings in this particular case will lead to still further revisions in the network, these revisions are finally in everybodyâs interest. A dealer who is not in tune with a brand and its customers will know that there are other brands with whom their skills and outlook are more synergistic. The research process can bring clarity to the appropriateness of this outcome. More importantly, dealers who are in tune with a brand and its customers can genuinely act as an ambassador for the brand and in the 1990's this is an essential for any brand which gives more than lip service to the concept of serving customers; a business can advertise, it can add value, but unless this is supported from the grass roots, it is unlikely to succeed.
The paper describes a new market research approach for the analysis of retail distributions choices and efforts when selling agrochemicals to the farmers. The method, called DISTRASCOPE, is based on two specific features: quantified interviews of a representative sample of salesmen of the distribution, availability of results at the end of the off season but before any use of the products. This type of survey has a great interest for agrochemicals companies in order to give an early overview of the sales campaign. It gives the companies a support to remotivate the regional sales teams with up to date information on the orientations of the retail distribution. It makes easier for them to target their actions on a better management of the products in order to avoid inventory shortage as well as products in excess at the end of the season of use. Before giving a comprehensive overview of the new methodology we would like to introduce, it is necessary' to explain the main features of retail distribution of agrochemicals to farmers in France.
Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) data from grocery store scanners have led a revolution in the way manufacturers and retailers use data for strategic and tactical decision making. The industry continues to change, with more robust, actionable applications becoming available as scanning data are used to guide the salesforce and marketers in seeking out the efficiencies of the marketplace. A wide variety of EPOS applications to enhance the marketing plan have been developed in the USA and have changed the way that retailers and manufacturers look at their businesses. In Europe, the scanner revolution is now taking hold, and opportunities to better target marketing mix understanding are growing concurrently. This paper provides examples of applications available in the USA including applications of promotion effectiveness and geo-demographic based micro-marketing. Uses of EPOS data in Europe for better marketing decision making will also be illustrated.
The sales force is the primary promotional vehicle between the pharmaceutical company and the GP universe. It is a large and labour-intensive function which is expensive to maintain, complex to structure and control and as in all people- based functions attracts inefficiency and potential for failure. This paper focuses on the process of setting and identifying a number of areas where management action for improvement would be appropriate. The responsibility for the quality and process of salesmanship is split between the Sales Manager and the Marketing Manager in the majority of pharmaceutical companies. The former recruits, trains and "polices" the field activity whilst the latter designs the tools of selling. This split in responsibilities is the cause of a significant weakness in the quality of salesmanship. The selling of a complex pharmaceutical product requires a considerable interplay with the current beliefs and habits of the GP and the assimilation by the GP of a new set of behaviours for himself, his patients and his colleagues. This complex interplay has to be understood by the Sales Manager and by the designer of the materials which support the selling process. The paper also identifies four problem areas between the representative and the GP all of which negatively influence the normal process of salesmanship and leads to observed symptoms of inefficiency. Recent research amongst sales and marketing managers indicates a desire for sales managers to have wider experience of marketing and market research issues. How this will be achieved is set out in guidelines for improving selling skills and ultimately for changing the organisational responsibilities for the selling function.
Changes in the global healthcare environment have significantly depressed the capitalisation of the Pharmaceutical Industry. Sales & Marketing resources are likely to be reduced and consequently what remains will need to operate with much greater efficiency. Since circa 80% of Sales & Marketing costs lie with the sales force, it is this area where significant productivity gains must initially be made. Examination of longer term productivity data from two sales forces illustrate some 40% of contact activity is on the least productive doctors. Targeting systems based on the Prospective Targeting® approach and correctly implemented, demonstrate average call productivity gains of 25%. Projecting the implications of this into a sales force downsizing exercise would return up to 5% to bottom line profits and theoretically this could, after government deductions restore upwards of 20% of lost company capitalisation. The relationship between Docs and Stocks is currently the main game and propter targeting has a real and unexploited operational contribution to make.
In this paper, a Decison Support System is presented that enables the decision-maker to make optimal use of existing marketing research data in the area of fast-moving consumer goods. Many valuable market data are not analyzed in depth by the decision-maker, who, therefore, do not get all the possible information out of the research budget. "SalesPlan" is a model that combines information that is already available by most brand producers. The main data of the analysis are time-series data of Category Sales, Brand Sales and Market Share, and corresponding values of the brand price, average competitor price, company and competitorsâ distribution, amount of company and competitorsâ in-store promotion, and data of company and competitorsâ retail inventory. All these data are available from Nielsen-Data, which most brand producers buy regularly, typically on a bi-monthly basis. Also, the analysis is based on GRP- and Adstock data of company and competitors' advertising efforts. These data are also available on commercial basis in most product areas. Finally, the decision-support part of the model uses company-internal data of brand production costs. Since data are time series, "SalesPlan" models trend and seasonal patterns if they exist. "SalesPlan" consists of two separate modules: A forecasting module and a decision support module. In the Forecasting Module econometric models of Category Sales, Brand Sales and Market share are estimated as functions of the set of explanatory variables. The ability of the models to describe the historical data provide valuable insight into the relative importance of the marketing decision variables and are basis for the decision support model. Based on forecasts of the important competitors' decision variables and the company's own marketing plans, short term forecasts of Company Sales, Brand Sales, and Market Share are developed.
The cases of many distribution organisations show that the strategy decided by firms is often very far removed from the realities of sales points. Operational management is often that which poses the most difficulties, not only because the strategic decision is badly chosen - on the contrary, but rather because its application is in contradiction with strategy wishes. Thus, since a long time, authors interested by the strategy have treated more fully the decision process, than its actual putting into application, sometimes called strategic management. The method that is presented here, SPI, Sales Performance Improvement, allows the underlining of these discrepancies between the distribution strategy and its operational management, and as a result of giving these precise recommendations, the amelioration at the point of sales level.
Five priorities for action for retail marketing correspond to the five factors of revival mentioned in the beginning of this talk: 1) Detect profit losses due to bad monitoring of sales. 2) Establish conformity between better communication and an improved reality in the stores. 3) Invest in data processing and in a specific store image. 4) In view of hard-discounting, point out the logics of assortments, the value of distribution, the efforts of customer service. 5) Clear new markets whenever the mastery of its retail tool allows it, thanks to the assistance of specialized companies such as Nielsen. There is a lot of work ahead, but a lot of potential, too. And don't think that ambition is ill-timed in this period of crisis: when the wind drops one must not just fetch the oars if one wants to go far, but one must persist in improving one's ship and increase its sails.