Push Marketing

A push strategy involves "pushing" the product through the market channels to final consumers. The producer directs its marketing activities (primarily personal selling and trade promotion) toward channel members to introduce them to carry the product and promote it to final consumers (Kotler 356).


Here Vector Marketing Corporation is a multi-level company that appears to implement the pull strategy. Vector is part of Cutco Corporation, a New York based company. It employs salespeople who work on commission based pay. Many salesmen are college students and recent high school graduates. Vector uses personal selling to push their product through the channels to reach the consumer. The company mainly markets Cutco kitchen knives to customer through one-on-one demonstrations. The sales force scouts for potential customers by looking through their contacts and using other people's references. Salespeople become channels by purchasing their own set of knives, independently finding contacts, setting up appointments, and using their own techniques to interact with customers. This is a clear example of pull strategy because the customer is being not demanding the product but the salesperson is creating that demand for them. The chain of communication goes from the Vector (producer) to salesmen (channels) to the consumers.

Ekaterina Ogay
Section G