Is this brief worded correctly?

[j5ffp9]

I have an job interview later this week, part of which involves me having to give a 5 minute presentation to my potential employers. The brief that I have been given for this presentation is as follows:

“Taking a traditional high street retailer (eg. Holland & Barratt), can you present ideas on how they should be developing their direct selling strategy to ensure future sales growth on their website”

However, this seems slightly odd to me. I am unsure as to whether the brief is talking about direct SELLING or direct MARKETING, as there is a huge distinction between the two. Direct selling is, for example, trying to sell double glazing door to door, or Anne Summers rep selling products at an Anne Summers party, whereas direct marketing could be anything from direct mail, emailing, personalised facebook ads etc. etc, which seems to make much more sense given the rest of the brief.

I can't see Holland and Barratt parties becoming popular any time soon.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Michael O]

I can see your confusion. It is a little ambiguous. Some people use the words 'Sales' and 'Marketing' interchangeably but you're right, they are different things.

Taking the interpretation that they are different you could argue that direct selling for Holland and Barrett takes place in their stores. Then, for example, you could say that they could offer a discount voucher on their till receipts for use on the website at a later date. Or, more fitting with the brief, everyone spending over £100 in store during the month of February gets a 20% discount voucher on the website. This has the effect of getting people to spend nore in store and also gets them to visit the website too. Once they've visited the website and registered they will more likely come back again in the future, thereby "driving future sales growth on the website".

However you choose to answer it I would start your presentation by explaining why you've answered it in that way. It does no harm to say "Mr interviewer I've interpretted the brief to mean direct selling is..... ". That way they can't be too harsh on you if the answer is different to what they expect.

Good luck with the interview. They aren't necessarily looking for a specific answer but they want to see how you respond to the question. You obviously know a lot about sales and marketing so I'm sure you'll do well!!