Sales promotion in a B2B setting

Abstract: Sales promotion has been in constantly growth since the 1960’s and have
today become one of the key factors in the promotional mix. The methods
used have become more sophisticated and an increasing number of companies
are realizing the importance of a well structured promotion strategy. The
purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding on how sales
promotion is used in B2B setting. In order to reach this purpose, research
questions focusing on the objectives of sales promotion, as well as which
sales promotion tools that were used were stated. Based on these research
questions, a review of the relevant literature was conducted, resulting in
a conceptual framework, which was used to guide this study's data
collection. A qualitative, case study approach was used, using
interviewing at an industrial company in Sweden as the primary data
collection tool. The findings indicate that, although the individual
objectives of the tools can be different they can still be used overall to
lead to the same overall goal. It was also found that the focus is not
always on using sales promotion tools to generate sales, but to improve
relationships. As for the tools used, it was found that there are commonly
used sales promotional tools in B2B settings. More specifically, gift
giving can be deemed inappropriate in certain contexts and should be used
carefully.