The World of Point of Purchase

In the world of point of purchase, cardboard signage has always been the preferred method of communication, but is digital media changing this and expanding the possibilities?

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On the face of it, point of purchase marketing should be remarkably simple. It’s a method of ensuring that shoppers opt for a particular product or are aware of a promotion at a specific moment. It works by highlighting perceived advantage and is a none-too-subtle way of seducing consumers into handing over their cash.

Over their heads

Pay a visit to most supermarkets, however, and one thing that is obvious, even if shoppers are not looking at it, is that there remains a lot of overhead

signage. Sainsbury’s in Camden Town, for instance, is a large store laid out along familiar lines in which almost every conceivable form of point of purchase has been deployed.

There is certainly some overhead signage but it is not at anything like the Safeway level described by Kingdon. There is a large amount of branded cardboard, used to promote predominantly own-brand merchandise and financial services at shelf level and there is even point of purchase on the PIN keypads at the self-checkouts.

Where there is branded cardboard, as in the case of a gondola-end cut out for a new Imperial Leather product, it has been merged with Sainsbury’s corporate colours, so the point of purchase is on the retailer’s terms. It’s an approach that has been the modus operandi at John Lewis for years.

As such, Sainsbury’s is typical of the manner in which point of purchase is handled by food retailers, all of which have overhead signage to a greater or lesser degree. It also has a long aisle on which various big signs boast ‘1/2 price’, ‘Buy 2 And Save’ and ‘Only £1’, among others. This is action alley or the power aisle, depending on which of the big grocers’ jargon you choose to adopt, and it demonstrates the supermarkets’ fixation with cardboard as the best means of communicating value.

From an environmental perspective, there is, of course, a benefit to using cardboard point-of-purchase material. Kingdon says: “Providing you’ve got the right inks, it is recyclable and therefore fits the green agenda, which is important at the moment.”

What it does not do is last forever and left on the floor for any length of time point of purchase rapidly becomes dog-eared and may have the reverse effect to that which is intended.

This is perhaps where digital printing on demand comes into its own. Until recently, the problem confronting retailers wishing to use cardboard for point-of-purchase campaigns was that it was not really possible to use it tactically. Promotions in small print runs were not practical owing to the cost of limiting print quantities, which meant that local initiatives were not possible and reacting to trends in shopper behaviour was problematic.

The advent of digital printing has meant that retailers are able to respond more rapidly without the inherent cost implications that used to prevent this happening. “It adds an extra dimension: it’s an additional tool for retailers,” he says. He uses Zoggs, the swimming goggles brand, as an example of the process at work and also as an example of “shelf-ready packaging”.

In many ways, shelf-ready packaging is the coming thing in the point-of-purchase world. It involves product packaging and display units that act as point of purchase in their own right, rather than adding cardboard to promote a particular item.

Retailers like to be in control of their destiny, which means that the Sainsbury’s example of using branded products combined with in-house colours can be an issue. Kessler’s point that digital printing means smaller print runs can be used to good effect here, allowing personalisation of a mass campaign at individual retail level.

All of this means that in spite of having, notionally at least, entered the digital age, the use of cardboard is set to remain a feature of in-store promotions and screens (see right) are still some way from becoming ubiquitous. And, owing to the need for branded stand-out, it is the brands, rather more than the retailers, which are driving the point-of-purchase agenda.

Brands have been lobbying hard for more point of purchase action in-store, but that cardboard point of purchase is just one aspect of what is taking place. People have less to spend and so you really do have to capture their attention if they are going to buy. This may mean that brands will spend more on point of purchase, but shopper marketing will have to be sharper in total.

Cardboard looks set to remain as part of the marketing armoury for the foreseeable future, as initial outlay is likely to prevent the wholesale adoption of digital point of purchase and signage in the near future, given the tight consumer climate. Traditional point of purchase may be one of retail’s less glamorous arenas, but it is here to stay.

 

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