MáS ALLá DE LA PROMOCIóN DE VENTAS: APLICACIóN DEL ENFOQUE ETNOGRáFICO - BEYOND SALES PROMOTION: APPLICATION OF THE ETNOGRAPHIC FOCUS

Ethnographic focus allows analyzing people in their natural environment. This study used that so called methodology in a purchase context: a supermarket, where some marketing and advertising students designed and set some exhibits of an own brand. This was done in order to increase the sales for the highest increment in sales with designed advertising material for some stands filled with private (dealer) brand products. The exercised aimed to determine which group of students achieved the best results (all of the groups succeeded in increasing sales of their chosen products). In the mean time, behaviors of consumers and employees were observed for finding out the elements that appealed them the most. It was found that the higher the acceptance of the cultural symbols used in sales promotion, the lower was the chance of reluctance by the consumers. It was also revealed that using teen age related characteristics for the campaigns may be a successful feature in Barranquilla, as well as the fact that status results more important than price for a product.