The UK market for TVs has become ever more sophisticated.
From small screens for kitchens to curved, or UHD 4K and OLED “wallpaper” devices, an amazing array of products is available, with prices stretching into several thousand pounds.
The TV has become an internet-enabled multi-function device, pre-loaded with applications and capable of synching with games consoles, laptops and smartphones. New channels, new internet-based content providers and a constant flow of new TV models, technologies, accessories and partnerships has created a highly competitive market.
The technology is remarkable, but the challenge for manufacturers now is how to design a sales promotions strategy that enables them to stand out and grab new customers. It is not easy when there is such intense competition and householders in the 27 million homes with a TV undertake extensive research before they decide which model to purchase.
It is here that a promotional sales consultancy like Opia uses its creative expertise to ramp up sales, crafting highly-effective promotional strategies that are based on an intimate understanding of what will trigger a purchase – but without exposing the manufacturer to any risk.
It is the ability to meet this challenge that has led Opia to partner with some of the world’s biggest names in consumer electronics such as LG, Samsung and Sony.
The key to this success has been Opia’s creativity in designing a bold, bespoke sales promotion strategy for each brand or product, recognising that as much as specifications are important to a consumer, so too is a wide variety of accessories and features. Today’s consumer, for example, is likely to want a sound-bar, headphones and to expect seamless connectivity between his TV and other devices.
Free, subsidised or introductory-offer subscriptions to on-demand video, cable TV and other content services are also increasingly part of the mix, as viewers shift from free-to-air broadcasters to providers such as Amazon, Sky, BT and TalkTalk.
All of these features can be creatively integrated into sales promotion strategies in the full recognition that each manufacturer and its models is different and requires its own perfectly calibrated promotional mechanism.
Opia, for example, is able to use gift-with-purchase techniques to foster far greater brand-loyalty, significantly deepening the market penetration of its full range of products and accessories.
A promotion of this type might involve TV purchasers being offered a discounted subscription to a set-top box which synchs with a family’s other mobile devices, or a set of headphones from the same brand, with a time window for redemption.
The success of such promotional techniques comes from the Opia’s unique ability to conceive and implement end-to-end solutions, creating a branded claim site while managing all validation, fulfilment and customer-service requirements through a 100 per cent in-house team.
In fact, the scope for creative sales promotional ideas in this market is huge, allowing Opia to deploy its flair and expertise so that promotions appeal to the lifestyles and tastes of different age groups, but always underpinned by a data-driven understanding of consumer behaviour. The values within each promotion can be set to match a manufacturer’s sales requirements, with Opia taking on the promotional risk itself through insurance with Lloyd’s of London. Fixed fees also give a manufacturer a predictable outcome and the reassurance of knowing in advance the impact on its P&L.
In the absence of creative sales promotion ideas and the flair and management skill to implement them, there is risk that manufacturers’ brands will stall in what is now an intensely competitive TV market.
It makes sense for brands to challenge a consultancy like Opia to come up with creative ideas, given its proven track record in fashioning unique sales promotions that exceed sales targets, expand market-share and develop brand-loyalty without risk to the manufacturer.
