Read the passage carefully and answer the questions.

A company called "EcoTech Appliances" has recently launched a new line of eco-friendly home appliances designed to help consumers save energy and reduce their carbon footprint.

Marketing Strategies used by the Company:

1. The company has developed eco-friendly appliances with energy-efficient features and environmentally sustainable materials. The product is priced slightly higher than regular appliances but is positioned as a long-term investment in sustainability.

2. Eco Tech has adopted a premium skimming pricing strategy for eco-friendly appliances, positioning them as high-quality, sustainable products.

3. The products are available on both online and offline channels, including large retail stores and the company's e-commerce website.

4. EcoTech employs various promotional tools to create awareness and persuade customers to buy their products:

• -The company runs TV and digital ads showcasing the energy-saving benefits of their appliances and their commitment to sustainability.
• -Sales representatives are trained to interact with customers in retail stores, explaining the benefits of the products and offering personalized recommendations based on individual needs.
• -Eco Tech has garnered attention from environmental organizations and media outlets due to their focus on eco-friendly products, resulting in positive press coverage and word-of-mouth promotion.

Which promotion tool is EcoTech using to offer personalized recommendations to customers?

Personal selling

The correct answer is option 3- Personal selling.

EcoTech is using personal selling as a promotion tool when their sales representatives interact directly with customers in retail stores and offer personalized recommendations based on individual needs.

Personal selling involves oral presentation of message in the form of conversation with one or more prospective customers for the purpose of making sales. It is a personal form of communication. Companies appoint salespersons to contact prospective buyers and create awareness about the product and develop product preferences with the aim of making sale.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Advertising is perhaps the most commonly used tool of promotion. It is an impersonal form of communication, which is paid for by the marketers (sponsors) to promote some goods or service. The most common modes of advertising are ‘newspapers’, ‘magazines’, ‘television’, and ‘radio.

• Sales promotion refers to short- term incentives, which are designed to encourage buyers to make immediate purchases of a product or service. These include all promotional efforts other than advertising, personal selling and publicity, used by a company to boost its sales. Sales promotion activities include offering cash discounts, sales contests, free gift offers, and free sample distribution. Sales promotion is usually undertaken to supplement other promotional efforts such as advertising and personal selling.

• Publicity generally takes place when favourable news is presented in the mass media about a product or service. For example, if a manufacturer achieves a breakthrough by developing a car engine, which runs on water instead of petrol, and this news is covered by television or radio or newspapers in the form of a news item. It would be termed as publicity because the engine manufacturer would benefit from such dissemination of information about its achievement by the media but would not bear any cost for the same.