Reporting from Orlando…
- While point-of-purchase advertising has long been a staple of the supermarket industry, there has been little research until now about the impact of POP ads in convenience stores. A new study, conducted by Point of Purchase advertising international (POPAI) to evaluate the success of and opportunities available for point-of-purchase advertising in convenience stores, suggests a wide range of materials can be effective, but that there is no “silver bullet” that insures dramatic results.
The results of the study, presented in a workshop at the NACS Show in Orlando, were described by Doug Adams, vice president of Prime Consulting, which conducted the survey. The major findings included:
• Point-of-purchase advertising is widely used in convenience stores. There were 57 products included in the study, and they averaged 25 pieces per store, with coverage of 45 percent, almost double the average coverage in the supermarket industry.
• A wide range of materials was found to be effective, with the choice of message and location critical to how effective the advertising message is in reaching consumers. For example, checkout POP advertising was successful in lifting sales of gum, mint and HBC products when it is displayed at checkout; it has practically no impact when the POP ad is either stand-alone or by a gondola.
• The most effective POP ads are in support of the bottled beverage categories, with carbonated soft drinks and alcoholic beverages getting the biggest boost because of their category size…but with consumers showing the greatest response to POP ads in the bottled juice and water category.
• The best POP advertising, according to Adams and the retailers who participated in the study, is a campaign that is integrated with other marketing efforts, and that includes the name of the brand, the price of the product, the amount of the discount available during the promotion, and a high-resolution color picture of the product. In essence, this provides all the information necessary to incite the customer to make an impulse decision; to provide less is to potentially have less of an impact.
The results released on Saturday only represent the first part of the study, focusing on consumer insights. The second part of the study, about the presence and effectiveness of POP ads, will be released early next year.
- KC's View:
- The MNB road trip continues, as we travel today to Arizona, where we’ll be giving a speech on Wednesday morning…
