How to Combine Promotions and Relationship Marketing in a Store

A store can combine promotions aimed at a specific purchase with consistent efforts to build customer relationships. To do this, the owner needs to choose the products and offer terms, calculate the margin after costs, prepare sales staff, and decide in advance how to track repeat purchases. A discount should make sound economic sense, and promises to customers should be clear and deliverable.

A practical starting point is a small, time-limited promotion for a defined group of products. After the sale, the store can help the customer use the product, honor delivery arrangements, and suggest a relevant next purchase. Below is a hypothetical launch plan. Its parameters should be tailored to the store’s costs, product range, and usual interval between purchases.

How to connect today’s sale with the next purchase

Transactional marketing focuses the store’s efforts on a specific deal: the customer sees an offer, understands its terms, and buys a product. Examples include a temporary discount on a particular collection, a special price for a set, or an offer for a selected customer group. The owner sets an objective, such as selling part of the seasonal stock or testing demand for a set.

Relationship marketing involves consistent contact with customers and following through on commitments. In the scenario below, a sales associate helps a customer choose a size and explains how to care for the item, while a staff member responsible for delivery updates the customer if the delivery date changes. The store can also introduce a clear rewards program and take previous purchases into account when preparing offers.

These practices can work together in one process. A hypothetical sportswear store offers a discount on selected children’s jackets, helps customers check the fit, and later, with the customer’s consent, lets them know when matching gloves arrive. Every contact should offer the customer a clear benefit. Whether customers return depends on many factors, so repeat purchases need to be measured.

A hypothetical promotion plan for a store

Suppose a clothing store owner wants to test a ten-day offer on selected jacket styles. Before launching it, the owner can organize the work in this order.

1. Set the objective and choose the products. The owner lists the styles, sizes, and stock quantities included in the offer. They check that the promised offer can be fulfilled and record the regular price and cost of each item.
2. Calculate the maximum affordable discount. The owner includes the product purchase cost, packaging, payment processing fees, and other costs incurred for the sale. Separately, they set an advertising budget and determine the margin that needs to cover the store’s fixed costs.
3. Write out the full terms. The rules specify the promotion’s start and end dates, eligible products and stores, who can take part, and whether and how the offer can be combined with other discounts. If the store uses rewards points, the rules also explain whether points are earned on promotional products.
4. Prepare sales staff and check the checkout system. The person responsible runs test sales with promotional and regular-priced items, both with and without a customer card. Sales staff receive the same explanation of the terms so the advertised price matches the price at checkout.
5. Arrange follow-up contact. The sales associate offers the customer the option to link the purchase to a customer card and agree on a convenient way to get in touch. If the customer needs another size, the staff member records the arrangement and follows through.
6. Review sales and returns. After the promotion ends, the owner compares actual prices, costs, and stock with the plan. Repeat purchases are assessed later, once the same observation period has elapsed for all participants.

How to calculate the economics of a discount

All figures in this example are hypothetical. Suppose a jacket’s regular price is UAH 1,000, its purchase cost is UAH 600, and other variable costs per sale are UAH 40. The store plans a 10% discount and an advertising budget of UAH 2,400. For simplicity, assume there are no returns and all amounts are calculated on the same tax basis.

If the store would hypothetically sell 30 jackets without a promotion, its margin after variable costs would be 30 × 360 = UAH 10,800. At the promotional price, selling 30 jackets would yield 30 × 260 − 2,400 = UAH 5,400 after advertising costs. To reach the original UAH 10,800, the store would need to sell at least 51 jackets: (10,800 + 2,400) ÷ 260 ≈ 50.77. At 51 sales, the margin would be UAH 10,860.

In this scenario, the owner needs to assess whether 21 additional sales are realistic and whether the required sizes are in stock. This is a calculated threshold to help make a decision. Rent, regular payroll, and other fixed costs still need to be covered from the resulting margin.

If the store hypothetically sells 45 jackets, it will earn 45 × 260 − 2,400 = UAH 9,300. That is UAH 1,500 less than in the original scenario. The owner may also consider another objective, such as reducing seasonal stock, but should assess its value separately. Future purchases and unused rewards points should not be counted as profit already earned.

How to announce a discount or sale

Public announcements are governed by Parts 4–6 of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Consumer Rights,” No. 1023-XII. Terms such as “discount,” “reduced price,” and similar expressions may be used during a defined, limited period for products sold directly by the seller, provided the price is below the regular price.

A “sale” means selling all products at a particular location or a clearly defined group of products for a limited time and at prices below the regular prices. After a public announcement, customers must be told the price in effect before the discount or sale began and the price after it began. These rules also apply to food products.

A hypothetical announcement for this launch might read: “10% off Model A jackets at the selected store from November 1 through November 10 inclusive. Price before the promotion: UAH 1,000; promotional price: UAH 900.” For multiple styles, both prices must be provided for every eligible item. The owner should keep a list of products, their previous prices, and copies of the promotional materials to check that the offer terms are being followed.

Promotions, bonuses and purchase analysis in Torgsoft

In the “Маркетинг → Акції” mode (Marketing → Promotions), Torgsoft lets you set a discount percentage or amount, product group, period, store locations, and customer restrictions. For a retail promotion, note that it applies to retail prices and does not apply to the “Ціна зі знижкою” price (Price with discount). Combining offers depends on their priorities and the add-discounts settings; a manual discount on an item takes precedence over others. Before launch, you can check the terms text on the “Результат” tab (Result) and run test sales. After changing a promotion, restart the program or click “Нова реалізація” (New sale).

To use the rewards system, configure the card type and accrual policy, then link the customer to the system. The settings determine how long points remain available, when they expire, and the maximum percentage of a purchase that can be paid with points; one reward point equals one unit of account currency. Points are not earned on items with a product discount, sold at a wholesale price, or included in a promotion. If part of a purchase is paid with points, points are earned on the portion paid in money, provided the item meets the program’s conditions. A return adjusts points earned or redeemed according to their link to the item. So customers should be told the rules of the configured program.

In “Аналіз активності покупців” (Customer Activity Analysis), you can select a period and an accounting center, view the number of receipts and the date of the last purchase, and filter customers by purchase count or items bought. To include customers in a bulk mailing, the additional “Масова розсилка SMS і e-mail” feature (Bulk SMS and email mailing) must be activated. “Аналіз використання знижок” (Discount Usage Analysis) shows actual discounts, promotions, sales amounts, discount costs, product profit, and reward points. These data help check whether the offer terms were followed. Advertising costs and subsequent purchases need to be compared separately: the reports alone do not establish that a purchase resulted from a particular message.

How to measure repeat purchases

For a hypothetical measurement, the owner can create a list of identified customers who used the promotion and check which of them made another purchase within 60 days of their promotional purchase. Each person needs a full observation window. The interval should be chosen based on the product range; in this scenario, 60 days is an assumption to be tested.

Suppose 80 identified customers used the promotion, and 20 of them made another purchase within the chosen period. The repeat customer rate is 20 ÷ 80 × 100% = 25%. If those 20 people generated 27 subsequent receipts, the numerator remains 20: the metric counts people, while the receipt count describes purchase frequency.

The owner needs to account separately for new and existing customers. A card’s issue date helps filter records, but a person may have purchased before without being identified. Purchases that are not linked to the same customer and duplicate cards distort the results. For example, if only 80 out of 100 receipts are linked to customers, the identification rate is 80%. This figure describes receipts; the number of unique people needs to be determined separately.

To assess changes, the owner can compare groups with similar prior activity over the same observation period, taking seasonality, product availability, and returns into account. The revenue figure in “Аналізі активності покупців” (Customer Activity Analysis) does not account for returns, so returns need to be checked separately. The decision to run the promotion again should be based on all the results: margin after costs, repeat purchases, record accuracy, and whether customer promises were kept.

Official source of requirements for announcing discounts

Law of Ukraine “On Consumer Protection” No. 1023-XII, Article 15, Parts 4–6: terms for applying discounts and sales, and informing buyers about prices.