Page 183 - DMGT507_SALES AND PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT

Unit 10: Managing other Promotional Tools

buy from independent sources, or in some cases is confined to customers who have made Notes
purchases earlier. Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Amazon, Fabmart, Indiatimes, and many
others have vast lists of home and e-mail addresses. Direct mails generally generate lower
response rates from potential customers. The cost of direct mail as e-mail is practically nothing.
John Goodman, CEO India and South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather believes the Internet is the perfect
medium for direct marketing. HLL (Denim aftershave, Lux), Hyatt Regency, and several banks
have effectively used direct mail for their credit cards.
Catalogues: Both, consumer and B2B companies may send catalogues of their entire product
lines, mostly in print form, sometimes also online, as CDs, or even videos. Considering the
global scenario, many companies use catalogue to sell variety of merchandise including clothing,
and cosmetics. According to Direct Marketing Association forecast, catalogue sales has reached
$16.3 billion in 2006. Internet has particularly boosted the catalogue business and companies
present their catalogues and accept orders over the Internet. Catalogues of marketers such as
Fabmart, Amazon, McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall, Dell and others are available at their websites
and anyone can place the order then and there. Some companies started as catalogue companies
and subsequently also branched into retail outlets, such as First and second bookseller initially
had a website that presented its catalogue but now also has a retail outlet in New Delhi. Anjali
Textiles, Otto-Burlingtons Mail Order (P) Ltd., Mothercare India, Charag Din and others use
catalogues.

Some authors make a distinction between manufacturer-originated and trading house-originated
direct mail marketing by using either direct mail or catalogue. If the marketer is a manufacturer,
it is called Direct Mail Marketing, and when the source is a trading house, it is called Mail Order
Marketing or Mail Order Business.
Broadcast Media: Direct marketer can use television and radio. Almost entire advertising with
respect to direct marketing occurs on television. This type of advertising is either in the form of
direct-response advertising, or support advertising. Direct-response advertising encourages
customers to place orders by using a toll-free telephone number. Support advertising informs
customers generally to take part in sweepstakes or expect something in mail.

Example: An interesting example of support advertising is on NDTV news channel.
Airtel encourages customers to use its cellular service and make two calls then answer a simple
question of the day. The winner gets 100,000 for correct answer. The message is broadcast by
NDTV and also the winner of the day is announced by NDTV in its news.
Some companies use a new form of direct-response advertising on cable and satellite called
infomercials. These are lengthy commercials ranging between 30 to 60 minutes and resemble
documentaries. Indian TV viewers are quite familiar with lengthy commercials about losing
weight, and portable exercise equipments and satisfied users testifying the great benefits they
derived and ease of use. Of course a toll-free number is included to place the order immediately.
Infomercials have been reported to be quite effective, audience watch them and place orders.
Widespread use of credit cards and availability of toll-free telephone numbers in more developed
countries has promoted teleshopping. Some TV channels exclusively sell products and services
24 hours a day, such as Home Shopping Network. The programme host offers low prices on a
variety of items including jewelry, kitchenware, fitness products, insurance, and CDs, etc.
Customers sitting in their homes make their purchases by calling a toll-free number and the
ordered item is delivered within 48 hours. QVC is a major shopping channel so far covering
U.S., Germany, and Japan reaching 84 million households.
So far it seems there are no daylong teleshopping programmes in India. Some programmes
being aired in India are actually infomercials.

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