What Scottish retail teams should agree on before launching their next promotion – Daily Business

A customer arrives at the till with an offer saved on their phone. The shop assistant has seen a different price on the shelf, and the website gives another end date. The customer expects an answer while staff search for whoever approved the promotion.

For a Scottish retailer selling through shops and a website, avoiding that situation requires decisions before the artwork is finished. Buying, marketing, store management and customer service need to agree what is being offered and what happens when something changes.

Put the offer in writing before commissioning artwork

Begin with a short promotion brief that identifies the products, intended customers, selling channels and commercial purpose. Clearing seasonal stock needs a different plan from introducing a new range. Agree which objective matters before judging the campaign by its sales total.

A shared spreadsheet may be enough for a limited promotion. Teams coordinating larger ranges can assess whether a great solution for promotion planning fits their actual needs by checking how it handles product information, amendments and approvals. The test is whether colleagues can find the agreed offer, rather than whether the software has an impressive demonstration.

Settle these points before design begins:

• Which products and variants are included.
• Which shops and online channels will carry the offer.
• When the promotion starts and ends.
• Who checks prices, availability and customer wording.
• Who can approve a change after launch.

A promotion brief should also identify exclusions. Staff should not have to infer whether a different size or colour qualifies.

Confirm what each branch can actually sell

A Glasgow branch may have plenty of a promoted item while an Edinburgh branch has only a handful left. Advertising the same offer does not give both shops the same stock position.

Ask the person responsible for stock to confirm quantities by location and distinguish goods already available from expected deliveries. If a delivery is delayed, agree whether the promotion moves, the affected product is removed or advertising is restricted.

For shops serving customers beyond their immediate area, include delivery arrangements in the discussion. An online offer reaching island customers may raise questions about delivery coverage and timing that a shop window poster does not address. Check the actual arrangements instead of assuming every order can be fulfilled in the same way.

Agree which costs the promotion must cover

A busy shop does not prove that a promotion has earned enough to justify its cost. Buyers and finance staff should agree how they will assess the result before committing to the offer.

Include the discount, advertising, printed materials and any extra fulfilment costs. A product with a healthy margin at its usual price may leave much less after those costs are included.

Decide what staff should do if a supplier changes a price or withdraws support. The promotion owner needs to know who can authorise a revised offer and who must be contacted before the old materials are removed.

Check the customer journey before launch

Review the offer as a customer would encounter it. A correct brief is little comfort if the website, shelf ticket and checkout have been updated separately.

Use a short launch check:

1. Open the advert and follow its link to the advertised product.
2. Check the relevant variants and any stated exclusions.
3. Add an eligible item to the basket and verify the offer.
4. Ask a colleague in a participating shop to check the shelf ticket and till.
5. Confirm that customer service has the same wording and end date.

Give one person responsibility for collecting these checks. Several people saying their own part is ready does not establish that the complete purchase journey is ready.

Tell shop staff what to do when plans change

Brief colleagues before the promotion appears publicly, including those joining later shifts. Give them the offer wording, product list and a named contact for questions.

Agree a response for common problems such as an unavailable item, a discount that does not appear at checkout or an advert that is still visible after the offer ends. Staff need to know when they can help directly and when a manager must decide.

Keep the current instructions accessible from the shop floor. If the marketing team changes a condition during the campaign, update those instructions and notify branch managers. Ask them to confirm receipt, then check that the website and scheduled adverts carry the same amendment.