A sales promotion is any type of reduced pricing or bonus deal offered to customers to encourage them to make a purchase. Sales promotions exist in every different type of sales, and may be something as simple as a reduced price at the grocery store or a low interest rate on an auto loan. An advertised sales promotion can be a great way to get customers to come into a business and end up spending additional money.
A sales promotion at a business may be a scheduled event, such as a weekly or monthly price reduction, or it may occur at different times throughout the year. It is completely up to the company as to when they will offer promotional pricing on goods or services. Sales promotions often occur at the changes of the seasons, where the type of merchandise sold may change, and companies will want to move old merchandise quickly to make room for new items to sell at full price.
It will be necessary to advertise a sales promotion through various means. Companies may use television commercials, newspaper, or magazine advertisements, or sales fliers to advertise their promotional pricing. Some may require customers to bring in a coupon or certificate in order to get the sale price on an item. These different types of marketing are important for an effective sales promotion.
In most instances, the customer will not need to meet any requirements to qualify for the sales promotion. This is common in the auto industry, however, when a customer wishing to purchase a vehicle will need to have a certain credit score in order to receive a promotional interest rate on a car loan, for example. It is common for automakers to advertise an extremely low interest rate, but then only offer the rate on certain vehicles, or to customers with excellent credit. Meanwhile, other people shopping for a vehicle are still more likely to make a purchase based on the marketing they have seen.
Sales promotions do not only exist for purchasable items. Services may be offered at discount prices as well, in order to encourage customers to spend more over a period of time. For instance, many fitness centers will offer a low introductory monthly rate for their sales promotion, in order to get the client to sign up for a longer period, at a higher rate once they try out the gym and enjoy it. Sales promotions are a great way to offer discounts to customers while making money at the same time.