POP: A Win-Win Situation for Retailers

A new study we at Point-Of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) have conducted with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) is making it easier to measure, and therefore manage, in-store advertising.

In 1995, POPAI's landmark study, Consumer Buying Habits, showed that in many beverage segments, purchases are spontaneous in nature. Take beer, wine and mixers, for instance, where more than 55 percent of all purchases are not decided upon until after shoppers arrive at the store. What's more, fewer than 30 percent of all brand purchase decisions are made prior to the consumer's arrival. Clearly, POP not only drives brand decision-making, but it also triggers impulses to purchase from entirely new product categories.

Quantifying POP's Effectiveness

This effort—so vital to the retailer's bottom line—has just been made much easier with the release of initial results from research culled from the collaborative effort between POPAI and ARF. The study, In-Store Advertising Becomes a Measured Medium, provides the information necessary to analyze and quantify the effectiveness of POP advertising based on data procured from a nationwide sample of 250 supermarkets.

The study finds that only one-third of all products stocked in-store receive POP advertising support at both the shelf and a secondary display. This means that retailers are underutilizing in-store advertising potential on two-thirds of all products, which inevitably translates into lost sales. It also shows that supermarkets, on average, have the opportunity to generate 6,000 consumer impressions each and every week.

POP advertising is also an extremely cost-effective means of disseminating key brand messages to the target consumer. POP's cost per thousand impressions is comparable to that of other media, including radio and outdoor advertising. It would therefore seem to behoove retailers to strategically manage this valuable investment made by their supplier-partners. Significant sales increases can be realized, providing the retailer does an aggressive job of strategically—and persuasively—communicating with his customers.

Plan It Out

Strategic coordination of POP advertising demands thoughtful planning. It requires retailers to proactively communicate with brand marketer clients (and, if necessary, the brand marketers' POP vendors) about what's being planned for in-store advertising support. One of the primary issues that needs to be agreed upon is the goal of the advertising. This will help ensure that one brand marketer's temporary standee will fit—not only physically, but thematically—in the retail environment

But that's not the only way in which coordinated use of POP adds value. POP also entertains customers and enlivens the store environment. In fact, in-store advertising support for beverages—be they beer and spirits, or soft drinks—serves as a source of great entertainment for shoppers. In the just-completed POPAI Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) Awards program, a gold statuette was presented to the Hot Damn Fire Extinguisher, on behalf of Jim Beam Brands, which did a fine job of illuminating the brand name from below. Another winner was Anheuser-Busch for its Bud One Motion Display, which vividly imitated the actual blimp seen at televised, outdoor sporting events. The image was replicated not only through its hovering movements, but also with flashing LED lights, which reinforced brand messages while simultaneously entertaining. Of course, the big winners, in both cases, were the retailers whose environments were enlivened by these different bits of advertising. Both inspired consumer interaction, enlivened the store environment, and contributed to increased sales.

So long as retailers have a vested interest in attracting customers who will spend more in-store than originally planned, they should embrace POP advertising offered by their brand marketer partners. And more than merely embracing the POP, retailers need to take an active role in assisting brand marketers to strategically plan the POP campaigns. That, my friends, is what's called a win-win situation. ba



Dick Blatt is president of Point-Of-Purchase Advertising International, the Washington, DC-based organization representing the POP industry. His contributions will appear periodically in Beverage Aisle.