Promotion is the eternal theme of market competition, and businesses will choose different ways and carriers according to their own conditions and purposes. As far as promotion motivation is concerned, it can be roughly divided into the following categories: 1. Promotion: Maximizing sales and cash flow is the main motivation of promotion, and it is also the common goal of retailers and brand manufacturers; 2. Strike and suppress competitors: Where there is a market, there is competition. In order to gain a dominant position in the competition, besides the differentiation of strategic layout and business model, promotion is the most basic way to promote competition; 3. Creating non-operating income: When the promotion market segments tend to be similar and the promotion effect is getting worse, sometimes the promotion has deteriorated from the beginning and become a "money-making gimmick" for retailers with dominant positions, such as bidding promotion, naming rights auction, and high DM single charge. Due to the scarcity of terminal resources, these "unreasonable" charges are possible, and this fee has become one of the main sources of profits for many businesses. It is most prominent in Shang Chao, and it has begun to show signs of shame in the pharmaceutical retail industry; At this time, the promotion effect is not important, but the process of "generating income"; 4. Clearing inventory: In order to clear the backlog of goods and revitalize resources, the usual "clearance sale" and "seasonal price reduction" all belong to this category; At present, the year is approaching, and retail pharmacies are in full swing to carry out various promotional activities to maximize the corresponding income from the market. This is basically out of the scope of "sales promotion", but the pharmaceutical retail industry has different business types, different business models, product structures, business positioning, etc., but the promotion carrier and specific methods are the same. In addition to storefront signs and in-store posters, DM sheets have become the most important carrier of retail pharmacy promotion activities. From these DM sheets, we can see the product structure and strategy choice of retail pharmacies. The author makes a statistical analysis of DM promotion orders of a chain pharmacy in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan 1 month. From the above table, no matter what format, the proportion distribution of promotional products presents the following characteristics: 1, Chinese herbal medicines occupy a certain weight, among which the chain stores in Dongguan and Guangzhou account for more than 30%; 2. Non-drugs account for less than 20% in the parity and traditional pharmacy formats (Dongguan and Guangzhou), while non-drugs account for 32% in the emerging format (Shenzhen); 3. The proportion of gift promotion is very small, which is less than 10%, and the highest is only 8%; 4. The proportion of branded goods is between 10%-20%, second only to Chinese herbal medicines. It is no accident or coincidence to present this distribution, and it is definitely a strategic choice for businessmen after rational thinking. Because the smartest person in the world is not a scientist, but a businessman; The smartest person in the world is not a politician, but also a businessman. According to the above statistics and distribution characteristics, we can probably draw the following conclusions: 1. About gift-giving: Although this season is approaching the Spring Festival, gift-giving has become a hot topic, but pharmacies have not put it on an important "post". Why? In fact, all businesses know that, first of all, gift consumption is mainly concentrated in supermarkets rather than pharmacies, and pharmacies "strive for" only a "fish that has a gift demand". Except for a few diversified drug supermarkets, gifts can never become an important source of profit for pharmacies, and it is impossible to expect colorful promotional activities based on them. Secondly, the gifts sold by pharmacies are mainly health care products, and the gift boxes of health care products sell better in pharmacies not because of the "gift demand", but because the gift boxes are large and more conspicuous on the shelves, winning more sales opportunities. Therefore, no matter retailers or brands, don't put the chips of gift promotion on the drug line channel, no exception at any time; 2. About Chinese herbal medicines: There are two reasons why Chinese herbal medicines account for such a large proportion in the promotion information of DM list. One is the concept of "autumn and winter tonic". According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, autumn and winter tonic is more appropriate, so velvet antler, ginseng, cordyceps and bird's nest have become the main products of various businesses, and achieved remarkable results; Secondly, because there are many categories and grades of Chinese herbal medicines, there is no unified standard and there is no strong brand, so there is no comparability in price, which is conducive to the major retailers to get rid of the price war of "bayonet seeing red" in promotion; 3. Brand goods: To achieve better promotion effect, we must first carry the banner of promotion, and non-brand goods are the only ones that can shoulder this heavy responsibility. Whether it is a discount or a gift supported by a brand, or a promotion without a brand, the attraction of branded goods to consumers is self-evident. Therefore, no matter when, where and what kind of promotion, brand products are "inseparable", and this Spring Festival promotion is no exception. 4. Timing and category selection of promotion in Spring Festival travel rush: A. Promotion in Spring Festival travel rush should be carried out before the Spring Festival and before the peak in Spring Festival travel rush. There is a saying that "I miss my family more during the festive season", but the real reunion in China is in the Spring Festival, not the Mid-Autumn Festival. By the Spring Festival, the whole city of Guangzhou will be half empty, and other cities should be similar. If you wait until the Spring Festival, it will be too late; B, in terms of category selection, Chinese herbal supplements should be the most important, followed by daily medication, and gifts should be diluted. First of all, for Chinese herbal medicine supplements, it mainly plays a nourishing and health care role and has sufficient price elasticity and seasonal demand; Secondly, for daily medicines, Cantonese people have a "superstitious" custom, and it is unlucky to enter pharmacies during the Spring Festival. This makes preparations in advance for daily drugs for treating headache and brain fever (such as cold medicine) and drugs for treating chronic diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular products). ). The demand of these drugs is rigid, not price elastic, but time elastic, which deserves attention; Third, for the gift market, gifts will always be Shang Chao's "cash machine". If you don't have the right weather, location and people, don't expect too much from the promotion effect.