ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction and overview to sales promotion practices in the highly diverse and complex market of India. As one of the fastest growing emerging markets (Sheth 2008; van Agtmael 2007; Wilson and Purushothaman 2003), India is a market characterised by diversity of the land, languages, cultures and consumers. Such a diverse market presents challenges to the marketing practitioners in their endeavours to introduce and grow the markets for products and brands. This chapter makes an attempt at unravelling some of the issues surrounding the increasing use of sales promotion practices in the Indian market place. The chapter begins by presenting a brief overview about the scope and purpose of sales promotion and some key issues emerging from academic research and industry practice. The chapter then introduces the reader to the current market of India. Thereafter, the chapter identifies the key drivers of growth in sales promotion practices. Next, the chapter presents examples and insights drawn from secondary data analysis of the sales promotion techniques employed across a range of industry sectors in high and low involvement products to illustrate the contemporary marketing practices. The chapter concludes with a summary of the key points from across the chapter sections.
