Producers fine-tune sales campaigns

Major food and consumer-product manufacturers have revamped their sales and marketing strategies, the better to cope with the economic recession and drive sales and the economy as a whole.

Unilever yesterday announced it would spend Bt1 billion on its biggest-ever worldwide discount campaign designed to counter the economic crisis, which has seriously affected the spending power of consumers.

Its local "Unilever Chaiyo Sale" will run from Thursday until June 4 and offer up to 45-per-cent savings on consumer products.

More than 300 Unilever products will be included in the five-week campaign, to be conducted in cooperation with 100,000 traditional and modern retail outlets nationwide.

Products include Breeze and Omo detergents, Comfort fabric softener, Sunlight dishwashing liquid, Sunsilk and Dove shampoo, Lux soap, Pond's and Vaseline lotion, Close-Up toothpaste and Knorr and Best Foods products.

Bauke Rouwers, chairman of the Unilever Thai Group, said the campaign was aimed at helping local consumers move the economy forward. They are now cash-strapped and looking for greater value in their purchases.

"During the economic downturn, each consumer is affected. To get our economy out of crisis and move ahead, we all need to help. By enabling consumers to save on their daily spending, we're directly helping every single consumer and putting more seed money into the market. When the economy picks up, consumer confidence will increase, people will start to spend as usual, and the economy will grow again," said Rouwers.

He said that at this time of economic difficulty, Unilever would alter its sales and marketing programmes in ways that would benefit local consumers.

"We'll launch our own campaigns that address consumer concerns locally and retain our competitiveness," said Rouwers.

Nestle (Thai), manufacturer and distributor of Bear Brand powdered milk, plans to help its retailers cope with the economic crisis by strengthening their sales and merchandising capabilities.

Under the "Bear Brand Sales Blitz 2009" campaign, more than 200 Nestle representatives recently visited retail partners throughout Bangkok to help them decorate their shops, organise product and shelf displays and convey product information directly to customers.

Roland Stieger, executive business manager of the dairy and creamer business unit at Nestle (Thai), said the economic difficulties had affected all local industries and the decision-making ability of Thai consumers. To cope with the situation, Bear Brand powdered milk has devised a plan to stimulate growth in the local powdered-milk market and assist retail partners with coping with the present troubles. More than 200 Bear Brand representatives from the marketing, sales and other departments will join the campaign, which is being held in cooperation with more than 100 retail partners throughout Bangkok, including retail shops, mini-marts, hypermarkets and supermarkets.

The "Bear Brand Sales Blitz 2009" campaign is jointly supported by Nestle, Bear Brand Advance, Bear Brand Protextion and the company's retail partners.

The first campaign, held last August