Promotional activity is an important strategic lever for many retailers. However, promotional programs can be costly and complex, and it’s not always clear what is and isn’t having a positive impact. A clear playbook that defines the roles and rules for managing promotions is critical to ensuring that your promotional strategy is creating value. L.E.K. Consulting combines its proven approach, advanced analytics and industry expertise to help clients develop promotional strategies that drive real results.
Our approach
Our approach is grounded in the development of a client-specific fact base, generated by sophisticated analysis of historical promotional activities and outcomes. Key questions for evaluation often include:
- What roles do promotions play within a client’s business?
- Are promotions delivering on their intended roles?
- Which promotion types have been value accretive versus destructive? How does this vary by consumer segment, market and store type, channel, season, etc.?
- Which product categories are most versus least responsive to promotional activity?
- What are the optimal frequency and depth of promotions?
- Which promotional types should be diminished, stopped, altered, increased?
Based on this fact base, we create a customized playbook to drive promotional strategy, accompanied by a “test and learn” program to further refine key promotional tactics over time. We also help clients institutionalize the learnings and processes required to operationalize the strategy.
