1. Lesson 10 - Sales Channels
SimVenture Evolution
Lesson 10 - Sales Channels
06/11/2019

2. Summary of Lesson 9 In this module we covered: Overview:
Promotional Strategy case study
Reflective diary
The CBI skills you will have developed were:
A positive attitude (readiness to take part, openness to new ideas and activities, desire to achieve)
Self-management – readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, time management, readiness to improve own performance
Team working – respecting others, co-operating, negotiating/ persuading, contributing to discussion (if you are working in a group).
Business and customer awareness- basic understanding of the key drivers for business success and the need to provide customer satisfaction.
Problem solving- analysing facts and circumstances and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions.
Application of numeracy-manipulation of numbers, general mathematical awareness and its application in practical contexts.
Application of information technology-basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spread sheets, file management and the use of internet search engines.
Summary of Lesson 9
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3. Sales Channels Overview of what we’re going to cover today:
Reflective diary
When you’ve finished please remember to write up your decisions in the journal.
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4. Process to get to market
Research
Company
set-up
Product
Create new product
Selling points & pricing
Promotions
Sales Channels
Production
More research
Employability
Skills & Capabilities
Enterprise
Innovation
Entrepreneurship
In order to get the best out of running your virtual business we have given you a structure to work through called THE PROCESS TO GET TO MARKET.
This is the process model you should follow to get the business moving along.
For those of you who don’t like to work in a structured way please feel free to run the virtual business as you’d like to but this process works and could be a great starting point for you.
The basic process to get to market is to start with Research and in particular Market Research and we completed this section in a previous module.
So, today we’re going to look at how your company promotes your product(s) through its SALES CHANNELS.
So, here is the process to get to market and where we are currently in the process.
This week we’re moving onto to SALES CHANNELS.
The basic process to get to market…
Action - Gather and analyse all the market research reports. If there are no reports you’ll need to order them in the simulation.
Competition
Customer
Focus Group
Segment
Market overview
Why - To inform: Product Design / Promotions / Sales Channels
The Scenario Briefing & Research Reports provide market intelligence to inform your decisions.
Design a Product or evaluate and change an existing product [PRODUCT DESIGN]
Taking into consideration your research
A simple approach to start with is to ‘copycat’ the competition
Create or re-create the product design [PRODUCT DESIGN]
The design process has 3 stages:
A concept or blueprint with no time or cost to generate (New Design)
A technical specification (requires hours assigned to the design process using the Change Strategy button). As quarters are run the designated hours are assigned to completing the design process.
A completed design containing the detail required for manufacture
Set Selling Points in line with your product design [BRANDING]
Choose a Primary Segment and select a Secondary Segment if you wish.
Set your Product Design ready for Production [PRICING]
Set the selling price (and discount if you wish).
Set Promotions [PROMOTIONS]
To generate awareness about your company and its products…
*Set Sales Channels strategy [SALES CHANNELS]
To push your product through the channels.
Manufacture some Products [PRODUCTION]
So they are ready for display in the Sales Channel outlets.
Gather more research to keep your market intelligence up to date: [ALL MARKET RESEARCH REPORTS]
View detailed feedback on your product.
Identify the sub-segments / demographics your sales were drawn from in the last quarter.
Identify the Promotions which attracted Customer attention.
Identify changes as they occur (Competitor Designs & Market Share).
Demographic
Identify the potential reach of Promotions & Sales Channels for each demographic group.
A breakdown of the demographics and preferred Sales Channel for each Sub-segment.
From this point on you should be gaining traction in the market and the challenge is to manage cashflow expand your sales to begin to turn a regular profit.
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5. Log in Open up a browser remembering not to use Internet Explorer.
Try Chrome or Firefox instead.
Go to - don’t forget to add the last forward slash.
Log in with your user name and password using the LOGIN button.
Open the activity that has been allocated to you.
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6. The Next Step
Once you’ve logged in you will see this page called MAIN MENU.
Go to the second section called OPEN ACTIVITY outlined in GREEN and CLICK.
Open the activity that has been allocated to you.

7. Next This is the next screen you will see.
From here navigate to the left hand side of the screen to SALES & MARKETING and CLICK.

8. SALES CHANNELS
After clicking into the PROMOTIONS tab look for the tab for SALES CHANNELS as outlined in green on the slide. Click.

9. Here is what you’ll see when you navigate to this section.
Make sure you read each tab across the top: Overview | Information | Key Considerations | Impacts to gain a full overview of Sales Channels (this is outlined in yellow on the slide).
Remember to switch on the ? Button to gain further in depth information (the button can be found on the top right hand tab)
Sales Channels
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10. Sales Channels Analysis
Remember to go back to the market research reports and find out where your current customers go to buy your product(s) before attempting this exercise.
Remember to switch on the ? Button to gain further in depth information (the button can be found on the top right hand tab)
After you've looked at the market research reports review all the different types of sales channels and answer the following questions:
What Sales channels is the company using now?
Are they working?
What changes would you recommend (if any)?
If you want to make any changes to SALES CHANNELS use the CHANGE STRATEGY button on the bottom left hand side. Here you make any changes you want to and then CONFIRM THE CHANGES. Remember that your decisions won’t be executed by the simulation until you press the RUN QUARTER button.
Play out your recommendations in the simulation by pressing RUN QUARTER
What happened? What was the impact on the company’s financial position? Did the changes result in more sales?
Rewind the quarter if you didn’t like the outcome
Try something else
Rewind if it didn’t work
REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU DECREASE THE SALES VISITS AND DISCOUNTS YOU EFFECTIVELY ‘SWITCH OFF’ THAT SALES CHANNELS.
If you change your mind you will need to update the sales channels again and confirm the changes to ‘switch them on’ again.

11. Which CBI skills were developed today?
As we outlined in a previous module.
Along with the skills outlined by the QAA at the beginning of this program of studies we’re also going to explore the Chamber of British Industry’s (CBI) definition of employability.
This is because these are the skills that are specifically needed by employers along with the skills identified in the QAA documentation.
This module will help you to become more aware of what employability skills are and how you can develop them.
To do this you’ll be taking part in an evaluation of your skills both before and after the program for a number of reasons:
Part of your assessment will then reflect on the development of these skills.
You will be able to see how your skills have developed and add them to your CV with evidence of how you’ve developed them.
If you haven’t already, please download and read the PDF document you can find here:
Think about which employability skills you have developed in this module.
Whilst you might think you already have all these skills if I asked you show some evidence from this module would you be able to do that?
If not, then you have some further development to do for this module.
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12. Journal
Finding the Journal – go to LEFT HAND SIDE OF SCREEN – ON BLUE TABS YOU WILL SEE JOURNAL.
Click the tab called Journal and you should see a screen like this.

13. Add Journal Entry
Write up a summary of the business as your starting point for your assessed work.
Give the entry a TITLE
CATEGORY
AREA
MESSAGE - Write up your summary which you can use in your assessment. Keep it short and bullet pointed as happens in the real business world.
Remember to press Submit to save the entry.
Well done everyone you’re set up and ready to go.
Go back into the journal to check that your notes are there.

14. Summary In this module we covered: Overview: Sales Channels
Reflective diary
The CBI skills you will have developed today are:
A positive attitude (readiness to take part, openness to new ideas and activities, desire to achieve)
Self-management – readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, time management, readiness to improve own performance
Team working – respecting others, co-operating, negotiating/ persuading, contributing to discussion (if you are working in a group).
Business and customer awareness- basic understanding of the key drivers for business success and the need to provide customer satisfaction.
Problem solving- analysing facts and circumstances and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions.
Application of numeracy-manipulation of numbers, general mathematical awareness and its application in practical contexts.
Application of information technology-basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, spread sheets, file management and the use of internet search engines.
Summary
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