Trade Marketing is a marketing strategy focused on the strategic placement of goods at points of sale.
Developing a high-quality product with a competitive price is undoubtedly a positive factor for increasing industry sales.
However, simply offering a product with these characteristics is not enough to ensure that sales results will meet or even exceed expectations.
The industry also needs an engaged team, composed of excellent collaborators who implement well-structured strategies based on market research.
In this context, structuring trade marketing actions is essential for the industry to achieve outstanding results.
In this article, we will show how technology is an essential tool and can be a powerful ally in increasing the efficiency of trade marketing results.
We will also highlight how Implanta IT's solutions can significantly assist in this process. Check it out!
What Is Trade Marketing?
So, what is trade marketing?
When a consumer decides to buy a product, a number of factors influence this purchasing process: their relationship with the brand, the product’s placement on shelves, pricing, etc.
It can be said that the relationship between the industry and its distribution channels also affects consumers' purchasing decisions.
Considering these and other elements involved in optimizing sales and distribution channels, this is where the trade marketing professional comes in.
The trade marketing manager ensures strategic planning focused on the consumer, taking into account factors such as product distribution planning, relationships with distribution channels, and merchandising management at points of sale.
The concept of trade marketing refers to the practice adopted by the industry to analyze consumer behavior and enhance marketing and sales strategies.
3 Benefits of Trade Marketing
One of the main benefits of trade marketing is that it is a strategy that delivers results over an unlimited period.
This way, the company can experience continuous improvement in its business relationships, as well as better brand acceptance in the market.
Here are other benefits that effective trade marketing management can bring to your business:
1. Greater Reach to New Consumers
Trade marketing enables you to reach new consumer markets more effectively. By leveraging technology and data, your business can target highly segmented retail markets.
2. Increased Market Presence for the Product
When you market your product using traditional methods, you end up selling only to local retailers. With effective trade marketing actions, you'll reach more consumers who might otherwise not discover your product.
3. Enhanced Competitive Advantage
Trade marketing boosts your competitive advantage over rivals by increasing your visibility.
For example, you can provide additional sales support such as promotional materials and marketing collateral to be displayed at points of sale or distributed to consumers.
4 Essential Trade Marketing Tools
As we already know, trade marketing plays a crucial role in increasing sell-out figures. sell out.
However, when creating strategies, the trade marketing manager needs to consider several tools and determine which ones are being adopted, which are most suitable, and which mistakes need to be corrected.
Knowing these tools will ensure that the manager maintains control of the process and is able to build and improve their trade marketing strategies, and consequently, boost sales.
Among some of the key tools, we can highlight:
1. Sales and Promotion Team Training
An essential tool is the management and training of promotion and sales teams.
By managing the training of your team, you can ensure they know exactly how to act in accordance with the industry’s strategy during negotiations with distribution channels and retailers.
2. Product Traceability
El seguimiento de los stocks internos y de los agentes de esta cadena comercial es una herramienta muy potente para afinar tu estrategia y campañas de marketing, ya que el análisis en tiempo real de la reacción del mercado ante tus campañas, promociones e incentivos es una potente herramienta de gestión.
3. Channel Categorization
Understanding the channels through which your product is distributed is essential for creating a solid trade marketing strategy.
Therefore, compile a comprehensive list of your channels with all relevant information to allow for better analysis and categorization.
This way, you can build a profile of your channels and determine which ones sell the most, thus directing your resources and strategies more effectively.
4. Recency, Frequency, and Value (RFV)
The analysis of recency, frequency, and value, also known as RFV analysis, provides a performance indicator for sales.
To perform RFV analysis, you need to collect three key pieces of consumer data: recency (how recently a customer made a purchase), frequency (how often they make a purchase), and value (how much the customer has spent).
With this data, you can better monitor sales and create more effective strategies to increase sales.
The Benefits That Technology Brings to Your Trade Marketing Strategy
When evaluating technology as support for trade marketing operations, it is important to keep in mind that it is not an expense but rather an excellent investment.
The return that such solutions provide in the long term compensates for the value invested in their implementation.
Furthermore, considering that trade marketing is the link between marketing and sales, the benefits of a technological solution, such as Implanta’s Distribution Visibility for effective execution of this strategy, are numerous.
Here are the main benefits:
1. Manage Pricing Policies
Defining and managing a pricing policy requires real-time information. In fact, beyond covering production costs and generating profit, the price must meet what the market is willing to pay.
2. Promote the Industry Brand
Through technology, the industry can promote its brand and products to sales channels effectively, optimizing investments.
With the right data, it’s possible to invest in channels that deliver the best results and understand what is happening with less efficient ones.
3. Manage Incentive Campaigns
It is common for industries that conduct indirect sales to create marketing incentive campaigns as a tool to encourage distributors' salespeople to recommend their products.
However, for accurate rewards, reliable data on distributor sales is needed to assess these campaigns, and without technology, this process is very challenging.
Count on Implanta to Improve Your Trade Marketing Strategy
Ultimately, for the development of a strategic trade marketing plan, it is essential to have effective distribution visibility.
Indeed, it’s not an easy task to ensure the accuracy of data needed to maintain the industry’s sustainability.
Fortunately, Implanta is a company with solid experience in developing technological solutions for data collection, analysis, and sharing.
Their solutions also enable integration with incentive campaign systems, generating powerful insights for decision-making.
It’s worth noting that when creating trade marketing strategies, accurate data collection and analysis are key to success.
Count on Implanta’s expertise to provide the right technological solutions to enhance your market performance.
Want to learn more? Contact one of our consultants. We would be pleased to assist you.