Retail Communication Mix

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 Definition
• Retail Communication Mix, is a set of tools,
used to inform the customers about the
retailer, the merchandise, service, and offers.

• It also serves, as a tool for building the store

image.

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 Objectives
Retailers communicate with customers to achieve a
number of objectives:
• To increase store traffic by encouraging new
shoppers to visit the store.
• To increase share-of-wallet for all shoppers or
specific groups among them.
• To increase the sale of a given product or category.
• To develop the store image or the retail brand.
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 Methods of Communication

Impersonal Personal

Advertising
Sales Promotion Personal Selling
Paid Store Atmosphere E - mail
Web site

Unpaid Publicity Word of Mouth

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 Cont…
1. Paid Impersonal Communication
• Advertising: It is a form of paid communication to customers using
impersonal mass media such as newspapers, TV, radio, and the
internet.

Types of Advertising
• Consumer – oriented or Persuasive Advertising: It surrounds our daily
lives and provides stimulus to purchase various products or services.
It helps in maintaining our regular demand and attracts a lot of
attention and preference of the customers.
• Informative Advertising: Purchase of durable products are generally
erratic and often too expensive to buy, so the buyer requires
elaborate information about them. Hence, the retailer and the
manufacturer spend a huge amount on informative advertising.
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 Cont…

• Institutional or Corporate Advertising: Its main motive is to

build a corporate image. An attempt is made to highlight the
achievements and objectives of the retail organization in this
form of advertising.
• Financial Advertising: It refers to advertisements by various
financial institutions like Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI, etc.
They provide information about the investment opportunities
and the risks and benefits associated with them.
• Classified Advertising: It refers to messages, which are placed
under specific headings and columns in various magazines
and newspapers, e.g. Jobs Classified, Furniture for sale, etc.

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 Cont…
• Sales Promotion: It offers extra value and incentives to customers to
visit a store or purchase merchandise during a specific period of time.
For e.g., coupons, contests, etc.
• Store Atmosphere: The retail store itself provides paid, impersonal
communications to its customers. Store atmosphere reflects the
combination of the store’s physical characteristics, such as its
architecture, layout, signs and displays, colors, lighting, temperature,
sounds, and smells, which together create an image in the customer’s
mind.
• Web Site: Retailers are nowadays are increasing their emphasis on
communicating with customers through their websites. They use
these websites to build their brand image, inform customers of store
locations, special events, and the availability of merchandise in local
stores, and sell merchandise and services.

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 Cont…
2. Paid Personal Communications
• Personal Selling: It is a communication process in which salespeople
help customers satisfy their needs through face-to-face exchange of
information.
• E – mail: This is another paid personal communication vehicle that
involves sending messages over the internet.

3. Unpaid Impersonal Communications

• Publicity: Publicity is communication through significant, unpaid
presentations about the retailer, usually a news story, in impersonal
media. Most communications are directed toward potential
customers.

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 Cont…
4. Unpaid Personal Communications
• Word-of-mouth: Retailers communicate with their customers
through word of mouth, communication between people
about a retailer. For example, retailers attempt to encourage
favourable word-of-mouth communication by establishing
teen ambassadors composed of high school student leaders.
These ambassadors are encouraged to tell their friends about
the retailer and its merchandise.
However, unfavourable word-of-mouth communication can
seriously affect store performance.

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Comparison of Communication Methods

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 Strengths and Weaknesses of
Communication Methods
• Control: Retailers have more control when using paid versus unpaid
methods. When using advertising methods, retailers determine the
message’s content, and for advertising, e-mail, and sales promotions,
they control the time of its delivery.
Because salespeople have their own style and might deliver different
messages, retailers have less control over personal selling than other
paid communication methods.
Retailers have very little control over the content or timing of
publicity and word-of-mouth communications. Because unpaid
communications are designed and delivered by people not employed
by the retailer, they can communicate unfavourable as well as
favourable informations.
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 Cont…
• Flexibility: Personal selling is the most flexible communication
methods, because salespeople can talk with each customer, discover
his or her specific needs, and develop unique presentations. E-mails
are also very flexible because they can be personalized to specific
customer interests, and Websites can be tailored to individual
visitors.
• Credibility: Because publicity and word of mouth are typically
communicated by independent sources, their information is usually
more credible than the information in paid communication sources.
• Cost: Publicity and word of mouth are classified as unpaid
communication methods, but retailers do incur costs to stimulate
them. Paid impersonal communications often are economical.
In contrast, personal selling, because of its flexibility, is more effective
than advertising, but it is more costly.
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 Steps in Developing a
Retail Communication Program
• Setting Objectives: Retailers establish objectives for their communications program to
provide –
- direction for people implementing the program,
- a basis for evaluating its effectiveness.

• Determining Budget: The second step in developing a retail communication program is

determining a budget. The economically correct method for setting the communication
budget is marginal analysis.

• Allocation of the Promotional Budget: After determining the size of the communication
budget, the third step in the communication planning process is to allocate the budget. In
this step, the retailer decides how much of its budget to allocate to specific communication
elements, merchandise categories, geographic regions, or long- and shot-term objectives.

• Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Communication Programs: The final stage in

developing a retail communication program is its implementation and evaluation.

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THANK YOU !

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