Global Journal of Management and Business Research, E: Marketing, Volume 21 Issue 4

Sales Strategies of Sub Brands Mr. Rakesh N α & Dr. M S Ranga Raju σ I. I ntroduction ustomer is the center of any business in the present business world. The products are evolving every day to meet the changing customer demand, so as the company strategies. Brand image is playing a key role in the sales of the product. Brand evo-lotion is important to keep brands fresh, vital, and relevant to the contemporary market (Merrilee’s, 2005)). Brands are now being extended to sub-brands to lever- age the master brand image, thereby increasing the sales. Therefore, the sales strategies must be adapted according to the brands and sub brands to stay competitive in the market. There is very less literature on the topic of sales strategies, sub- brands and how to design sales strategies for sub- brands. The purpose of this article is to summarize the research done in the field of sales strategy and sub brands. The first and second part gives an insight about the literature of sales strategies and sub-brands. In the consecutive parts proposal for further research will be recommended on the topic of developing sales strategies for sub brands. II. L iterature R eview of S ales S trategies The main goal of any business is to achieve maximum sales/revenue. With the companies now going global the importance of sales strategies has been increasing due to the increase in the buying power of the customer (Frederick E. Webster, 2004; Nikolaos G. Pangopoulos, 2011 and McClaren, 2015). Even though there has been very less research done in the field of International Sales (Johnson, 2015 and Nikolaos G. Pangopoulos, 2011). Initially sales strategies emphasized on selling the product directly to a customer through saleserson, but now sales strategies not only comprise of personal selling but also encompass all the 4P’s of marketing (Paolo Guenzi, 2011 and Chui-Hua Liu, 2013). The scope has been enlarged to customer acquisition, customer retention and customer relationship management. There has been a shift in the company’s strategies from sales orientation to customer orientation (Paolo Guenzi, 2011). The concept of sales has been continuously evolving. Dawson (1970) identified four eras in the evolution of sales management; production, sales, marketing and human, and explained the characteristics of sales personnel in each of these eras. Also, Thomas (1991) identified 5 stages in the evolution of personal selling; provider stage, persuader stage, prospector stage, problem-solver stage, and procreator stage , where each of these stages explains how sales evolved from accepting an order and conveying it to the customers to identifying customer’s problems and solving it through active buyer-seller collaboration. The definition of sales has been constant for many years. The concepts and theories of sales are incongruent with the radical progress occuring in the business world (Wotruba, 1991and Friedrich, 2015). Tanner and Raymond’s (2010) definition in theory varies greatly with the practice: “Interactive, personal, paid promotional approach between a buyer and seller” Andrea and John (2012) proposed the definition of sales that account for growth in knowledge, changes in the sales function, and impact of technology on the sales process: “The phenomenon of human-driven interaction between and within individuals/organizations in order to bring about economic exchange within a value-creation context.” Susi Geiger and Séamas Kelly (2014) emphasized that sales practices must be rede-fined as the inherited conceptual models of selling does not hold good for the pre-sent dynamic business environment characterized by advanced selling techniques and technologies. There are few articles that highlight the study on sales strategies and these articles portray the authors’ view on sales strategies. The findings of these articles are directed to improve the sales of organizations. Table 1 illustrates the sales strategies of the authors chosen for the purpose of this article and also highlights the benefits of their sales strategy. C © 2021 Global Journals Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXI Issue IV Version I Year 2021 ( ) E 13 Author α : Assistant Professor, Dept. of MBA and Research Center, RNS Institute of Technology, Uttarahalli – Kengeri Road, Bengaluru-98. e-mail: rakesh.nagaraj@rediffmail.com Author σ : Professor & Head, Dept. of MBA & Research Centre, JSS Academy of Technical Education, JSS Campus, Uttarahalli – Kengeri Road, Bengaluru-60.