What challenges do marketers face in managing trade promotions?

What will be an ideal response?

The growing power of large retailers has increased their ability to demand trade promotion at the expense of consumer promotion and advertising. The company's sales force and its brand managers are often at odds over trade promotion. The sales force says local retailers will not keep the company's products on the shelf unless they receive more trade promotion money, whereas brand managers want to spend their limited funds on consumer promotion and advertising. Manufacturers face several challenges in managing trade promotions. First, they often find it difficult to police retailers to make sure they are doing what they agreed to do. Manufacturers increasingly insist on proof of performance before paying any allowances. Second, some retailers are doing forward buying — that is, buying a greater quantity during the deal period than they can immediately sell. Retailers might respond to a 10 percent-off-case allowance by buying a 12-week or longer supply. The manufacturer must then schedule more production than planned and bear the costs of extra work shifts and overtime. Third, some retailers are diverting, buying more cases than needed in a region where the manufacturer offers a deal and shipping the surplus to their stores in non-deal regions. Manufacturers handle forward buying and diverting by limiting the amount they will sell at a discount, or by producing and delivering less than the full order in an effort to smooth production. Ultimately, many manufacturers feel trade promotion has become a nightmare. It contains layers of deals, is complex to administer, and often leads to lost revenues.