Approaching any holiday weekend, there is always one word that drives consumers wild: SALE!
Retailers often roll out holiday specific promotions in addition to their ongoing store level initiatives for a brief “long weekend”, but not without a series of hurdles to overcome.
One major component to making these promotions a success is the effectiveness of in-store, point of purchase displays. If the customer can clearly identify the product and the deal and/or savings, then there is a higher rate for success and an implied opportunity for sales growth.
While certain promotions do run as holiday specific, this is not a unique challenge for retailers and brands on a regular basis. It is constantly essential that the merchandisers are stocked properly and adequately, and that the displays maintain their proper aesthetics.
Last year, in a piece on Blog Guru titled, “Retail Display Really Matters” the author explains:
“…when we are shopping we are led by our eyes. If you are a retailer, then, how you engineer your retail displays really does matter, in profound and interesting ways.”
(Note: There are some really interesting behavioral and scientific studies about this that I would encourage you to check out!)
This is not only true for secondary displays, but for shelving as well. The blogger goes on to note:
“Retail shelving is important not just for practical reasons but also for aesthetic purposes. Obviously common sense tells us that for spatial reasons you can sell more products if they are displayed efficiently on shelving, i.e. easier to access by customers.”
Retail Pro’s blog, “In-store displays matter for influencing shoppers” indicates that “According to new research from Point of Purchase Advertising International, an association for retail marketing, 76 percent of grocery shoppers are making decisions in-store.” This drives home how essential eye-catching POP displays are.
Understanding the value of these displays, there are a few simple things that brands and their retail partners can do to make sure that all promotions are running according to concept, and in turn being tweaked to perfection.
- It starts with adopting current technologies that empower and enable their own networks to strengthen all processes, while monitoring compliance. With the rise of BYOD and the advance of mobile technologies, these systems are more available than ever before. Every step of the way can be measured and improved by capturing data on the go.
- Establish the highest level of compliance through in-store visibility: Whether it is a series of photos, a checklist, or an actual in person visit, it is imperative that these displays are executed properly and timely. It is just as important that the problems with execution and displays are identified early enough to take action on as well. (Holiday Sale weekends provide a tiny window for any corrections, making real-time information that much more essential).
- Create a process that drives consistency: Equipping your network and merchandisers with the exact same information and tools, will strengthen consistent execution. With the proper calibration, there is little room for deviation from the marketing plan and the idea from which a promotion is conceived. Keep everyone on the same page at the same time!
As Marketforce merchandising eloquently states,
“Inventory systems have become increasingly sophisticated to identify problems, but nothing can take the place of on-the-ground, real-time, in-store merchandise auditing”.
This is what adopting new mobile & web technology can give you. It can leverage real-time in-store visibility with accuracy that provides for in the moment solutions and decisions.
