How to Increase Customer Traffic in the Iittala Stores of Latvia and Lithuania A Marketing Communication Plan Bachelor’s thesis International Business Valkeakoski, autumn 2016 Hanna-Kaisa Mustasilta ABSTRACT Valkeakoski International Business International Marketing Author Hanna-Kaisa Mustasilta Year 2016 The subject of Thesis How to Increase Customer Traffic in the Iittala Stores of Latvia and Lithuania ABSTRACT The commissioner of this thesis is Fiskars Oyj Abp. The author became acquainted with the company during her internship in Fiskars, Direct Con- sumer Sales of Iittala –team. Therefore it was natural for her to continue working for the company in the form of a final thesis. The purpose of this thesis is to create a plan of how to increase customer traffic in the stores of Latvia and Lithuania. The topic of this thesis was decided together with the commissioning company. The Iittala stores of Latvia and Lithuania are lacking customer traffic, which is the reason why this thesis was initiated. The intent of the thesis commissioner was to research how the personnel and the store managers of Iittala Stores in Latvia and Lithuania consider that customer traffic could be increased in their stores. The theory applied in this thesis is therefore based on the different competitive marketing communi- cation tools in retail business and it was used as a fundament of the ques- tionnaires directed to the respondents. The questionnaires were formulated as open ended questions to allow creative thinking for the respondents. The main results were based on the theory applied in this thesis and the findings of the questionnaires. The Author created a marketing communi- cations plan which answers questions how to spread knowledge and en- hance image of Iittala Stores in Latvia and Lithuania, how to affect their customer’s attitudes towards Iittala, how to create sales and customer rela- tionships and how to maintain those customer relationships. Further actions require effective cooperation with the Iittala Store employ- ees in Latvia and Lithuania and the retailer of Mocevičiaus firma, “Ginalas”, and his team. Keywords Marketing Communication, Retail, Questionnaire Pages 39 p. + appendices 6 p. TIIVISTELMÄ Valkeakoski International Business International Marketing Tekijä Hanna-Kaisa Mustasilta Vuosi 2016 Työn nimi How to Increase Customer Traffic in the Iittala Stores of Latvia and Lithuania TIIVISTELMÄ Tämän opinnäytetyön toimeksiantajana oli Fiskars Oyj Abp. Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus oli luoda suunnitelma siitä, kuinka asiakastrafiikkia voisi lisätä Iit- talan Latvian ja Liettuan myymälöissä. Latvian ja Liettuan myymälöiden asiakasmäärät kaipasivat kohennusta, mikä oli syy aiheen valintaan. Opinnäytetyön tutkintametodina käytettiin kyselytutkimusta. Toimeksian- tajan toiveesta kysely kohdistettiin Latvian ja Liettuan myymälöiden hen- kilökunnalle ja sen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, löytyisikö siitä ideoita asia- kasmäärien lisäämiseen. Kysely toteutettiin avoimena kyselynä helpotta- maan vastaajien luovaa ajattelua. Opinnäytetyön teoria keskittyy markki- nointiviestinnän kilpailukeinoihin kansainvälisen vähittäiskaupan alalla ja sen tarkoitus oli toimia kyselyiden pohjustuksena. Opinnäytetyön päätulokset perustuvat opinnäytetyössä käytettyyn teoriaan sekä kyselytuloksiin. Näiden perusteella luotiin markkinointiviestintäsuun- nitelma joka vastaa kysymyksiin siitä, kuinka lisätä tietoa ja parantaa asiak- kaiden mielikuvia Iittalasta, vaikuttaa asiakkaiden asenteisiin, lisätä myyn- tiä sekä asiakassuhteiden luomista ja ylläpitää asiakassuhteita Latvian ja Liettuan myymälöissä. Jotta opinnäytetyön tulokset voisi toimeenpanna ja jotta niitä voisi tulevai- suudessa myös kehittää, jatkotoimenpiteinä tulisi jatkaa tiivistä yhteistyötä myymälöiden työntekijöiden, sekä Latvan ja Liettuan jälleenmyyjän ja hä- nen työtiiminsä kanssa. Avainsanat Markkinointiviestintä, vähittäiskauppa, kyselytutkimus Sivut 39 s. + liitteet 6 s. CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Iittala and Fiskars ................................................................................................ 1 1.2 History of Iittala .................................................................................................. 1 1.3 The Purpose of This Thesis; Methods and Tools ................................................ 2 1.4 The Iittala Stores of Latvia and Lithuania ........................................................... 3 2 COMPETITIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN RETAIL BUSINESS ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Advertising .......................................................................................................... 4 2.1.1 Media advertising .................................................................................... 5 2.1.2 Direct Marketing ..................................................................................... 7 2.2 Sales Promotion................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Personal Selling ................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Shopper Marketing ............................................................................................ 12 2.5 Public Relations (PR) ........................................................................................ 14 2.6 Word-of-mouth Marketing (WOMM) .............................................................. 15 2.7 Benchmarking ................................................................................................... 16 3 CREATING AND CONDUCTING THE QUESTIONNAIRES .............................. 17 3.1 The Respondents ............................................................................................... 17 3.2 The Questionnaire Methods and Objectives ..................................................... 17 3.3 The Questionnaire to the Store Personnel ......................................................... 18 3.4 The Questionnaire to the Store Managers ......................................................... 21 4 THE RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRES; CLASSIFICATION .................... 24 4.1 Media Advertising ............................................................................................. 24 4.2 Direct Marketing ............................................................................................... 26 4.3 Sales Promotion................................................................................................. 27 4.4 Consumer Promotion tools ................................................................................ 28 4.5 Personal Selling ................................................................................................. 28 4.6 Shopper Marketing ............................................................................................ 30 4.7 Public Relations................................................................................................. 30 4.8 Word-of-Mouth Marketing ............................................................................... 31 4.9 Additional Ideas and Recommendations from the Respondents ....................... 32 5 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 33 5.1 Spread Knowledge and Enhance Image ............................................................ 33 5.2 Affect The Customer’s Attitudes ...................................................................... 35 5.3 Create Sales ....................................................................................................... 36 5.4 Create and Enhance Customer Relationships.................................................... 38 6 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 38 SOURCES ...................................................................................................................... 41 Appendix 1 QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE STORE PERSONNEL Appendix 2 QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE STORE MANAGERS How to increase customer traffic in the Iittala stores of Latvia and Lithuania 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis project is commissioned by Fiskars Finland Oyj Abp. The author became acquainted with the company during her internship in Fiskars, Di- rect Consumer Sales of Iittala –team. Therefore it was natural to continue working for the company in the form of a final thesis. 1.1 Iittala and Fiskars Iittala is an international company operating under Fiskars Oyj Abp. Iittala is one of the most known Finnish brands. Iittala’s produces tableware, home interior and cookware products. Perhaps the most known product of Iittala is the Aalto vase, which is designed to illustrate the Finnish coastline (finn- ishdesign.com). Iittala’s design philosophy is to produce products that are distinctive, long-lasting, combinable and multi-functional. Its main values are quality, aesthetics and functionality. Iittala’s products are produced in production facilities belonging to Fiskars group in Finland, and in contract manufacturing plants in Europe and in Asia. Iittala’s products are sold in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and Iittala also delivers to many counties. (iit- tala.com) Iittala has its own customer base program called MyIittala, through which customers can receive vouchers, special discounts