Today, more than ever, effective point of purchase displays have become an important factor affecting your bottom line. Whether you’re running a grocery store, a pharmacy, or an auto parts distributorship, every retail establishment has a point located somewhere within the store where purchases are made, which provides the perfect opportunity for point of purchase displays.
Point of purchase, or POP, is well known to anyone who has shopped at a grocery store and seen racks near the cash registers filled with newspapers, magazines, candy bars, chewing gum, razor blades, toothbrushes, and the like. These are primarily impulse purchase items, typically not found on your grocery list and, according to studies conducted by POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International), something that approximately 62% of those surveyed say they regularly pick up on impulse during their shopping trips.
Some other interesting statistics uncovered that help tell the story of why point of purchase displays are so important include:
- 34% of shoppers surveyed state they don’t use a shopping list, with 47% saying they use one, but it’s in their head
- Approximately 16% of unplanned purchases were the result of seeing a store display
- Use of newspaper ads, mailers and store circulars continues to decline
- It takes an average of just three seconds to make a buying decision on an impulse item
Ways to Make Your POP Displays More Effective
There’s no question that creating attractive point of purchase displays can be effective in adding sales, especially add-on purchases that weren’t originally planned. Here are some things to consider when creating your displays:
- A well-designed POP display can create an emotional connection with customers. They should be directed to your specific target market to play on their tendency to make a quick, impulse decision.
- POP display signage needs to be innovative and made to grab the attention of passersby. You want them to stop, look, and pick up an item all in the space of just a few seconds.
- Money spent on high-quality POP displays is well worth the expenditure when compared to that spent on traditional advertising and other types of promotions.
- With the ongoing decrease in product sales support in many areas, retailers are finding great advantage in many of the POP merchandising programs being offered by various manufacturers. These programs represent an effective and affordable means for showcasing items for sale at POP locations.
- It’s been proven that the longer a customer spends shopping in a store, the more they will typically buy. Attractive, well-designed POP displays can increase shoppers’ interest and enjoyment, causing them to naturally spend more time in the store. Keeping them engaged and in the store for longer periods is good for business.
- Building your own POP displays will help keep costs down and allow you to create more displays. Make sure you rotate your various displays regularly so that your customers will be able to view something new and different each time they visit. This is critical, because after viewing the same display once or twice, most people won’t even "see" it as they go by.
POP displays can be great at delivering an impressive return on investment, and it’s easy to determine just how well they’re performing compared to traditional methods of promotion like print and other media advertising. They’re relatively inexpensive and can be targeted directly to the consumers you want to reach.
[image credit: Phil Manker]
