The term sales front is used in many different ways in both the marketing and retail worlds. The meaning may therefore vary according to your company's culture, and the configuration of its distribution network.
Sidely offers you an overview of the different uses: each paragraph will deal with a definition 😉
A sales front is an emblematic store showcased by a brand or chain.
By extension, brands operating in the mass retail sector generally use the term "sales front" to designate a group of particularly strategic stores, in relation to the size of their footfall or sales.
The challenge is to determine a pool of stores on which marketing and sales efforts will be focused, so as to maximize sales, or the number of products to be accepted by the buyer in his assortment.
In retail marketing, the term " sales front " is sometimes used to designate products that are displayed at the front of the store, i.e. facing the customer. These are products at eye level, in the front row of a shelf. They are also referred to as protrusions on the shelving of a gondola or shelf unit.
The shelves on which to position these strategic products can be found in the store's hot aisles. But here's a nuance: for many, the expression " sales front " refers more specifically to the traffic area in front of the checkouts, i.e. - most of the time - at the store exit.
Finally, other companies use the word sales front to designate all the stores in which their products are marketed. Translate: "all the places where customers come into contact with our products/services".
This may seem an over-use of the term, but it's actually quite useful in the context of sales prospecting. Indeed, while some brands focus their strategy on integrated outlets and work closely with central purchasing agencies, others choose to address so-called independent stores.
In this case, the term " sales front " refers to the multitude of sales outlets in the field, and not to central buyers. The same applies to control visits (shelf-space surveys, merchandising, etc.), which are necessarily carried out at store level, even if the frequency of visits varies according to the importance of sales outlets in terms of turnover.
In this context, the term " sales front " is used to reflect the reality of the distribution network. In general, the complexity for brands lies in covering numerous points of sale, and more specifically in optimizing sales rounds.
