Promotions have become an essential tool to financial performance of retail organisations. The actuation of this study was to map a way to survive in a stiff competition market environment by focusing efforts on products that are best financial performers in a grocery retail shop. In doing so, Pareto analysis was used to classify the products according to their sales frequency contribution. The products that exhibit the largest frequency were chosen as the vital few products and 14 out of 46 were identified. In addition to the sales frequency goal were 3 more priority goals that had to be considered because high sales do not necessarily mean high profits. That is where goal programming approach came in to strike a balance amongst the prioritised goals. Finally the number of products reduced to 10 for the optimal promotional product mix and they constituted approximately 20% of the total number of products under study. This complies with 80:20 PARETO principle. A survey in the consumer market confirmed the products and thus, validating the goal programming outcome. The study, therefore, concludes that a mathematical programming approach is effectively applicable to a marketing decision problem where a promotional marketing strategy is needed.
Marketing decision, Promotional strategy, Product mix, Pareto analysis, Goal programming
