45.Sales Promotion¹（产品促销）
　　1. Sales promotion consists of those promotional activities other than advertising², personal selling, and publicity³. As such, any promotional activities that do not fall under the other three activities of the promotion mix are considered sales promotion. The trade often uses the term indiscriminately. Businesspersons may use the term “promotion” when they actually mean “sales promotion.” For purpose here, promotion is a broad term that encompasses⁴ sales promotion as well as the other three promotional activities. 
　　1、产品促销指的是不同于广告、个人销售和宣传的推销活动。因此，不属于以上三种推销活动的推销活动都被认为是促销。实际生活中经常不加区分地使用这一概念。商务人员在说“推销”时，实际上指的是“促销”。本文中，推销是一个广义的概念，它包括促销以及其他三种推销活动。
　　2. The techniques of sales promotion are varied⁵ and numerous. The common ones used are coupons⁶, sweepstakes, games, contests, price-offs, demonstrations⁷, premiums⁹, samples, and money refund¹⁰ offers. A combination of these can be used and sometimes is used in the same campaign.
　　2、推销的手段多种多样，数不胜数。普遍运用的手段有附在商品上的赠券、各种抽奖活动、游戏、竞赛、降价销售、产品示范、各种奖励、样品试验以及钱款返还承诺等等。在同—推销活动中，多种手段可以结合使用，有时也确实结合使用。
　　3. Sales promotion is temporary in nature. Not being self-sustaining, its function is to supplement advertising, personal selling, and publicity. To launch Budweiser beer in Great Britain, Anheuser-Busch employed the “American” theme. Its TV commercials on the 4th of July and Thanksgiving Day were spots filmed in California with American actors. To supplement its advertising effort, the company used a variety of sales-promotion techniques. It made posters, bunting, flags, pennants¹¹, T-shirts, and sweatshirts available to pubs and discos for promotional parties. Bud ashtrays¹², bar towels, coasters, football pennants, and similar items were offered for sale. Moreover, American disc jockeys were brought in to program American music nights.
　　3、从本质上说，促销活动具有时间短暂的特点。由于其本身没有自我持续的能力，它的作用就是作为广告、个人销售和宣传等推销活动的补充。为了将百威啤酒打入英国市场，Anheuser-Busch运用了“美国”主题。7月4日和感恩节的电视广告播的都是美国演员在加利福尼亚拍摄的场景。为了加强广告力度，该公司运用了大量的促销手段，如制作海报、装饰旗和三角旗等各种旗帜以及体恤衫和汗衫等供促销团体出入酒吧和迪斯科夜总会。同时它还制作烟灰缸、酒吧餐巾、杯垫子、杯托子、足球赛用的三角旗以及诸如此类的物品用于销售。此外，该公司还专门邀请电台的音乐节目主持人开办美国音乐之夜。
　　4. Sales promotion is not restricted to the stimulation¹³ of demand at the consumer level. It may be used to gain middlemen's support as well. In Order to get Thai middlemen to carry Foremost's dairy products, the company used leasing and conditional¹⁴ sales contracts to provide small retail¹⁵ outlets¹⁶' and restaurants with freezers for $1 if contract terms were met. Foremost also had to convince these resellers not to store other products in the freezers and not to unplug freezer units at night to save electricity. 
　　4、促销不仅局限于拉动消费者的需求，也可以用来赢得中间商的支持。为了使泰国的中间商销售其乳制品，Foremost公司运用租赁和有条件销售合同以一美元的价格向那些零售小商店和饭店提供冰柜，条件是要满足合同条款。同时，该公司还得说服这些转卖商不要在冰柜中储存其他产品，并且不要为了省电而在夜间拔去冰柜插座。
　　5. The use of sales promotion is not limited to consumer products. It can be used with industrial selling too. Misawa Homes promoted its House 55 by sending samples to U.S. Homes and Germany's Okal. Pfizer, like other drug firms, attracts drug wholesalers by sponsoring trips and other events. Gifts are given to doctors, and doctors' wives are taken on shopping tours.
　　5、促销手段的运用不仅仅限于消费品，它也可以用于工业销售。MisawaHomes为了推销其House55产品而向美国的Homes公司和德国的Okal公司寄送样品。与此类似，Pfizer公司同其他药品公司一样，通过组织旅游和其他活动来吸引药品批发商。他们向医生们赠送礼品，而且组织医生的夫人们进行购物旅游。
　　6. The popularity of sales promotion has grown steadily¹⁷ both in the United States and overseas. A survey of executives conducted by Stimulus¹⁸, Canada's leading advertising journal, revealed a shift from media advertising to sales promotion. Compared with five years ago, three of five firms had moved to spend more of their advertising budget on such nonmedia alternatives as trade shows, point-of-purchase displays, and publicity. According to a POPAI (Point-of- Purchase Advertising Institute) -Du Pont study of shopping behavior in the United States, almost 70 percent of all non-food purchases in supermarkets are generated by in-store decisions. If the same decision-making pattern is prevalent outside the United States, sales promotion should prove to be just as indispensable.
　　6、无论是在美国还是在海外，促销活动越来越受人青睐，而且势头强劲。加拿大首屈一指的广告杂志Stimulus对公司经理们的一项调查表明，他们已从媒体广告转向促销活动。同五年前相比，有五分之三的公司开始在广告预算中增加对非媒体手段的投入，如交易展销、买点展示和宣传。根据买点广告机构和杜邦公司对美国人购物行为所作的一项调查。在超市里所有非食品购买行为中，几乎有70％源自顾客在超市内的临时决定。如果这种购物方式能在美国以外的其他地方盛行开来，那么，将证明促销活动同样是必不可少的。
　　7. Sales promotion is effective when a product is first introduced to a market. It also works well with existing products that are highly competitive and standardized¹⁹, especially when they are of low unit-value and have high turnover²⁰. Under such conditions, sales promotion is needed to gain that “extra” competitive advantage. A Japanese firm created a great deal of excitement in Thailand by including game cards in its detergent²¹ boxes, and consumers could not resist buying more and more in search of the winning cards, Likewise, most gas stations in Thailand at one time gave free washcloths with a gas fill-up. Middlemen were also allowed to participate in the sales-promotion program. Stores were informed of the display, and their salespeople²² or sales clerks were made aware of the program and benefits.
　　7、当某种产品首次进入一个市场时，促销活动是相当有效的。如果产品本身极具竞争力，而且比较规范，那么，促销也适用于现有产品。尤其是如果这种产品单价较低而且流通量大。在这种条件下，就需要促销以赢得额外的竞争优势。一家日本公司通过将游戏纸牌装在其洗涤剂盒子中，结果在泰国引起轰动效应。消费者情不自禁，越买越多，希望得到胜张。与此类似，在泰国大多数加油站，顾客每加一次油，即可免费得到一块清洗布。中间商同样可以参加促销活动。经销商店及时了解产品展示信息，商店的销售人员和职员对这些活动及其利益一清二楚。
　　8. The effectiveness of sales promotion can be tempered by psychological barriers, and this fact is applicable to middlemen as well as consumers. Some foreign retailers²³ are reluctant to accept manufacturers' coupons because they fear that they will not be reimbursed²⁴. Consumers, on the other hand, may view rebates²⁵, mail-in coupons, and money-back guarantees with suspicion, thinking that something must be wrong with the product.
　　8、无论是中间商还是消费者，只要有了心理障碍，便会使促销活动的效果打折扣。有些国外零售商不大愿意接受产品厂家附在其商品中的赠券，因为他们担心这些赠券中的款项无法返还。另一方面，消费者可能对折扣、邮寄来的赠券和返还款项的承诺持怀疑态度，他们会认为，这样的产品肯定有问题。
　　9. Much like many other marketing²⁶ aspects, sales-promotion methods may have to be modified. The techniques employed, to be effective, should be consistent with local preference. Philips offered a set of dominoes as a premium⁸ for electricity purchase in Brazil, where the game is national pastime and electrical products are treated as commodities. A player holds the colored side up to prevent an opponent from seeing the dotted numbers side. Since the company's name was on the back of every domino, electricians were often reminded of the brand.
　　9、促销方法同营销的其他许多方面极为相似，应该加以改进。要使所运用的手段产生作用，就应使它同当地消费者的喜好相一致。电力在巴西是视为商品，而在该国，玩骨牌是一项全国性的娱乐活动，飞利浦公司即在那里推出一套骨牌作为购买电力的奖品。一方要将骨牌反抠，使彩色的一面朝上，这样，对方就看不见带点数的那一面。由于每张骨牌的反面印有飞利浦公司的名称，电工们便会经常想起这种品牌的产品。

上一篇：中国石油职称英语考试通用教材电子版（2007年）四十四 下一篇：中国石油职称英语考试通用教材电子版（2007年）四十六