Wholesale eCommerce Platforms: 6 Business Objectives to Consider

In the consumer goods space, successful brands and wholesale distributors realize the importance of trade promotions in their B2B commerce activities and use them to gain an edge. Trade promotions take many forms. They vary between offering markdowns when introducing new product lines, to creative ideas executed in stores such as motion sensing cardboard cutouts reacting to passing customers with a jingle.

But you can’t promote to B2B customers in the same way you would to consumers. Consumer promotions (often referred to as sales promotions) work by driving demand for a product or service, typically offering something to the consumer, such as a discount, a premium (free gift) and more.

Trade marketing involves B2B promotions focused on the supply side, incentivizing retailers to buy more products, so they are widely available to customers.

What is the definition of trade promotions?

Trade promotions are marketing activities and incentives offered by brands and wholesalers to their business customers – mainly retailers and convenience-stores (though those could also be other businesses such as hotels, restaurants and cafes) – with the intention of increasing the sales of their products within those channels, and on to consumers.

They also work by invigorating distribution and retail channels, so they become proactive about their consumer-facing promotional activities.

Types of B2B trade promotions

There are different trade promotion strategies that brands and wholesalers can use to highlight their products. These include:

1. In-store displays

End caps are a great tool to use to make sure your product stands out. They come at an additional cost as do point-of-purchase (POP) placements which are designed to encourage shoppers to impulse buy while waiting to pay.

There are many examples of in-store displays items that can be used including floor stickers, posters and banners, life-size display stands and in-person demonstrations of your product, all geared to capture the attention of shoppers.