Communication Mix In Retailing

Explain the relationship between the communication mix and branding in retailing?

"Retailing encompasses the business activities involved in selling goods and services to consumers for personal, family, and household use." Retailers buy large quantities from manufacturers or wholesalers and then sells small quantities to consumers to earn profit. Retailing is important because consumers demand to have goods and services that they need. For Retailing to occur, a business must have the tools necessary for communicating to the consumers its goods and services. Thus, Retailing has the communication mix which is a set of tools that inform customers about the retailer, the merchandise, and the services. Any organization needs to have

Disrupting competitors occurs when a company 's communication mix markets the brand and helps keep its brands at the top head of the consumer. The communication mix provides competitiveness as well as a channel where a company competes against competitor 's promotion and tactics. Some examples of tactics that company 's use is price match programs that aim to beat competitor 's price. As mentioned above, the communication mix generates brand awareness. Brand awareness is important because it lets the customers realize what the goods and services are. When the communication mix communicates with the targeted audience about the goods and services, people become aware of the goods and services. As a result, word of mouth develops so many people become acknowledgeable about the brand. People begin to pass their experiences and attitudes felt toward the brand of the goods or services. Retailers use communication techniques such as direct mail and email marketing campaigns are used to create interactive relationship with customers. Retailers send promotions to customers to encourage customers to use their purchasing power, customers who only buy specific types of goods and services, and customers who purchase during promotion of particular goods and services. As a result retailer 's earn profit and return. By consistently reinforcing brand image using the communication mix, retailers gain on the long run

When communicating a brand, the communication mix relies heavily on the budget available. The budget available determines which element to use and which to not use. Based on John F. Tanner, Jr and Mary Anne Raymond, the budget affects a promotion 's reach, number of people exposed to the message, and frequency , how often are people exposed. For example, a company may not have the enough money to create advertising campaigns that will in return attract customers and increase sales. Retailers need to also to be aware of the stage in the product life cycle. According to the stage, different types and amounts of promotions are used. Products in the introductory stages need more promotions than at any other stages to create brand awareness. Another challenge that retailers need to consider is to set apart different types of products and purchase decisions. Technical and expensive products rely on professional selling while products that are purchased routinely rely on advertising. Purchasing decisions are easier in products of low involvement while high involvement products require much work by retailers using more tools of the communication mix. Retailers are challenged by customers to find out their readiness to purchase and to find out the target market characteristics. Retailers need to find the different types of media and which to choose for different target