Meaning & use
trade promotion
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablebusiness
A short-term sales offer, such as a discount or free display, aimed at shops or distributors rather than at shoppers directly.
Grammar: Countable when you mean one offer or scheme; uncountable when you mean the activity in general.
Patterns
- run a trade promotion
- offer a trade promotion on something
- a trade promotion for retailers
The drinks company ran a trade promotion giving supermarkets two free cases for every ten they ordered.
Retailers often pass part of a trade promotion on to shoppers as a lower shelf price.
Our trade promotion budget for the spring is already spent.
noununcountablebusinessfinance
The activity of helping businesses sell their goods in other countries, usually through government offices, fairs, and trade missions.
Grammar: No plural and no article in this sense: we say trade promotion, not a trade promotion, when talking about the general activity.
Patterns
- trade promotion between countries
- a trade promotion agency
- spend money on trade promotion
The embassy's trade promotion team arranged meetings with local importers.
Government spending on trade promotion rose sharply after the new export strategy was announced.
She works in trade promotion, helping small firms find buyers abroad.
Common combinations
- a trade promotion campaign
- The chain launched a trade promotion campaign to get its new snack into corner shops.
- trade promotion budget
- Half the trade promotion budget went on in-store displays.
- trade promotion agency
- The national trade promotion agency paid for the stand at the food fair.
- run a trade promotion
- Manufacturers run a trade promotion when they want more shelf space.
- trade promotion activities
- The report lists the country's main trade promotion activities overseas.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sales promotion
- Broader: it covers offers to shoppers as well, while trade promotion normally means offers aimed at the shops in between.
- export promotion
- Fits only the country-to-country sense; it is about selling abroad, not about discounts to retailers.
- deal
- Informal and much vaguer; use trade promotion when you mean an organized scheme with terms and dates.
Word family
- promote verb
- To help something grow or sell better, or to advertise it.
- promoter noun
- A person or company that organizes and pays for publicity or an event.
- promotional adjective
- Describing material or prices used to advertise something.
Commonly confused: trade promotion or product placement?
trade promotion vs product placement
Product placement is when a brand appears inside a film or show; a trade promotion is a sales deal, usually with shops, not a paid appearance.
Practice
Which sentence uses "trade promotion" in the country-to-country sense?
Choose one answer.
Only option B is about helping businesses sell abroad, which is the government or agency sense. The other options describe a short-term sales deal with retailers, which is the business sense of the same phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trade promotion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.