Trade marketing is a discipline of marketing that relates to increasing the demand at wholesaler, retailer, or distributor level rather than at the consumer level. However, you need to continue with your Brand Management strategies to sustain the need at the consumer end. A consumer is the one who identifies and purchases a product from a retailer. To ensure that a retailer promotes your product against competitors', you must market your product to the retailers, also. Trade marketing might also include offering various tangible/intangible benefits to retailers. The alignment of sales and marketing discipline to profitability. It is used to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers.

Introduction

70 percent of shopping decisions are now made at the trade or what marketing practitioners refer to as "point-of-purchase". This new trend leads to the greater importance of merchandising and shopper promotions than consumer directed programs. Below the line promotions have become the focus of most consumer goods companies in order to drive higher sales. As retailer giants continually expand throughout every opportune territory, the role of merchandising in generating growth becomes more prioritized.

Distributor/Dealer

Distributor/Dealers are channel trade partners who act as a medium to ensure stock delivery/availability for the consumer across the geographies. The role of these entities is absolutely critical as they help in ensuring that the product is widely distributed and available for the end consumer. The key benefit of these entities is in ensuring that the distribution costs are lower for the manufacturer and simultatenously the products are available for the end consumer. The distributor and dealers operate on a base trade margin (factored in the cost of the product by the manufacturer). Along with the base margin the trade partners also get additional schemes/incentives which keep on varying from time to time and product to product. The dealer could be a Retailer (selling to end consumer directly), wholesaler (selling to other retailers primarily) or a modern retailer (i.e. self service stores like the Walmart, Carrefour

Carrefour

Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...

, Tesco

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 etc which are into both the consumer retailing and wholesaling).

Sales outlet

Sales outlet means a retailer. A retailer is also one of customers in trade marketing targets. Plans of trade marketing is targeting customers and shoppers. Therefore, trade marketing should provide sales outlets with customer & shopper-based value creation plans. Sales outlets (customers) are a place that manufacturer can meet shoppers and consumers.

Methods of trade marketing

Basic method of trade marketing is focusing on sales fundamentals, such as Distribution, Display, Promotion and Price. With data and knowledge of sales fundamentals, trade marketing develops market strategy aligned with brand strategy. In order to deliver sales volume and value, trade marketing support sales forces with well-designed fundamental enhancement plans.

See also

• Business-to-business
  Business-to-business
  Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
  
  
• List of basic marketing topics
• List of marketing topics
• Marketing
  Marketing
  Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
  
  
• Marketing strategy
  Marketing strategy
  Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.-Developing a marketing strategy:...
  
  
• Shopper marketing
  Shopper Marketing
  Shopper marketing is "understanding how one's target consumers behave as shoppers, in different channels and formats, and leveraging this intelligence to the benefit of all stakeholders, defined as brands, consumers, retailers and shoppers."...
  
  

External links

• Marketing dictionary
• Trade Marketing and Commercial Strategies - Università di Parma