Explain the difference between push and pull promotional strategies.

• A. Push strategies rely on consumer advertising; pull strategies rely on wholesale discounts.
• B. Push strategies market to intermediaries to push to customers; pull strategies stimulate demand from end consumers to pull products through the channel.
• C. Push strategies always increase price; pull strategies always reduce price.
• D. Push strategies use only digital channels; pull uses only print.

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is how promotional efforts move a product through the market: who is being influenced and why. A push strategy works by targeting the channels—distributors and retailers—with promotions, incentives, and merchandising support so they stock and promote the product. The goal is to “push” the product through the supply chain to the final customer. A pull strategy flips that around: it focuses on the end consumers with advertising and promotions that create demand for the product, so retailers stock it to meet that demand. In other words, push is channel-driven (getting intermediaries to push to customers), while pull is demand-driven from consumers up through the channel.

That’s why the best description is the one that states push strategies market to intermediaries to push to customers, and pull strategies stimulate demand from end consumers to pull products through the channel. The other descriptions misstate who is being incentivized or how the channel moves the product, such as focusing only on consumer advertising or price changes, or limiting channels to digital or print.