Page 73 - Demo

That’s why pop-up ads appear at the bottom of our TV screen five minutes after the ads have screened, breaking through and registering in our mind before they can be rejected. I’ve certainly stopped movies to make a note of a something that caught my eye, and always because it was of interest to me. When a shopper has chosen to shop at a supermarket or convenience store, they’re already on the path to purchase. This means every product in the store has the potential to be of interest to them and POP messaging can begin to stir interest before they even set foot in the store. Bait and switch Of course, shoppers are constantly moving through different stages on the path to purchase, so brands use specific types of promotional messaging based on where shoppers are on that journey. These include brand messaging, information messaging and switch messaging. Brand messaging is intended to either attract people to a brand or trigger brand recall, typically using a logo or strapline. For example, the logo of a takeaway coffee brand could be displayed on the door of a service station, triggering the desire for coffee. Information messaging informs and advises consumers and shoppers about current products or offers, often using a gradual build-up to stir interest and desire to buy. With the coffee example, the servo might have six coffee cup floor decals leading the shopper towards the coffee station, with the last three offering extra-large coffees for only $1 extra. Just before the coffee dispenser, a larger decal may include extra information, mentioning a combo deal of coffee plus a doughnut from the well-presented display the shopper is now facing. Switch messaging is generally used where the product is on display. In the coffee example it might be loyalty card offering a free coffee after five consecutive days of buying the upsized coffee and doughnut deal. Switch advertising is particularly effective in supermarkets. Convenience World spoke with Polly Yule, MD of retail marketing solutions specialists Crossmark Australia, to learn more about POP tactics and shopper behaviour. “The switch relies on the lure of price and promotion and is widely used in supermarkets, particularly among the larger players,” she said. “We see it presented as a special, supported by prominent pricing information and shelf talkers, often with the goal of converting or switching a shopper from potentially purchasing a standard product to a trial of another. “We also see it used to expand the basket size through additional trials of alternative or new products, and to make customers aware of the products that are on special at that time.” One reason for the success of switch tactics in supermarkets is that, functionally, food products often don’t vary much, so offering in-store incentives and special pricing at POP can have a significant impact on shopper behaviour. While some shoppers buy only the items with special pricing, many can be influenced to try alternative brands. There are also those who shop habitually, taking the same route through the store, stopping at the same shelves and buying the same mix of products they’ve always bought. They might notice if one of their regular products is on special, perhaps even buying two, but even a directly adjacent product on special can fail to disrupt their routine if its message isn’t bold enough to break through. “Over time, a lot of people will start to form a pattern of shopping behaviour,” Ms Yule said. “For example, when they walk into a store they always start with fresh produce, then they work their way down the aisles. However, there are also those choosing the opposite approach, so their fresh produce is on top. “From the early days of retailing, shop design, store design and even shopping mall design have been based around how to control customer flow to expose shoppers to more stalls, more products and more opportunities. “There are thousands of studies looking at the behaviours of people as they walk through stores including tracking where their eyes scan, learning what they look at, and what types and sizes of product they want,” Ms Yule said. “This is why so much research also goes into the power and placement of the product, be it by product type or product category. “We know brands would love their products presented as a brand, but retailers will argue that isn’t the way that people shop. The retailer is more interested in the purchase.” Now you see it Having brands displayed in a category and competing next to each other on the shelves makes the deployment of switch messaging simple, but the shelves themselves can make it difficult to achieve an impactful display. Shelf talkers and aisle fins certainly make a difference, but for greater impact, brands are increasingly using customised POP displays because of their flexibility and almost limitless capacity for customisation. They can be placed anywhere a retailer chooses, adjacent to the category or off location, and repositioned at any time. Custom POP displays are not only eye-catching, but being a physical object, when positioned well they can disrupt the habitual or routine shopper who otherwise pays little attention to promotional shelf signage. They also cause no problems in terms of sustainability as they’re almost all made TO PAGE 72 SEP/OCT, 2020 CONVENIENCE WORLD 71 POS/POP