The last time you shopped at a retail location, do you remember seeing any eye-catching and flashy promotional signs or standing cardboard cutouts used to promote one of the store's products?
Those signs were a part of that store's point of purchase marketing strategy and their goal is to persuade customers to purchase the item and when done effectively, it really works!
Plus, we have the details on everything you need to know about point of purchase marketing so you can begin using it to your advantage effectively.
What is POP Marketing?
POP marketing, or point of purchase marketing, is the strategy a marketer takes to deliver a message surrounding a specific product to potential customers.
The goal for POP marketing is to deliver the message to the potential customer at exactly the right time to persuade them to make a purchase.
POP marketing typically uses printed materials such as custom signage and displays. And these POP displays and POP marketing materials are critical sales tools that help market a brand or product effectively.
Why Is POP Marketing Important?
Printed materials used in POP marketing are collectively one of the biggest sectors in the printing industry.
Whether they’re printed on paper, plastic, vinyl, or corrugated cardboard, these items are extremely important branding opportunities, and they are instrumental in swaying the opinions of millions of shoppers every day.
Just a few reasons why POP marketing displays are important include:
- They allow certain products to stand out while providing useful information
- They draw in the attention of consumers
- They encourage potential customers to make a purchase thus increasing your sales
- They promote your brand and build strong brand recognition
- They create a unique and personalized experience for the customer
In all types of stores, brands are competing with one another for the attention of passing shoppers. The brand with the most attractive and persuasive display sells the most since the shoppers are drawn to it.
In addition to brands competing with one another, they’re also competing with brands from entirely different product categories. For example, supermarkets do their best to keep items together by category or usage, it’s impossible to design a store where one type of product is the sole focus all the way through.
For the shopping experience to be interesting and easier for the shoppers to navigate, stores present them side by side as space allows. This is where this inter-product category competition comes from, and it’s important to realize this exists to ensure your point of purchase print collateral will outshine the rest, both within and outside of your product category.
Who Uses Point of Purchase Marketing?
POP marketing is generally used by brick-and-mortar businesses like retailers, salons, and restaurants.
The brands that benefit from POP marketing are the ones that sell their items in locations physically near point-of-sale (POS)—the places where customers make a payment or consider their purchasing options like registers, checkout counters, or restaurant tables.
The following are a few examples of notable candidates who benefit from using POP marketing techniques:
Restaurants
Restaurants use POP marketing such as gift card displays near their register or other POS as well as table tents on their tables promoting dessert options or happy hour to effectively convince customers to add something to their order.
Retail Stores
Clothing stores, boutiques, hardware stores, auto part stores, and other stores in the retail industry all take advantage of POP marketing. For example, many place their lower-ticket items around their checkout counter or even use POP marketing to advertise their most profitable products to entice customers to make a purchase or add to their purchase.
Grocery Stores
These are one of the most common places you’ll see POP marketing. Each checkout lane is usually separated by retail shelving filled with candy, snacks, batteries, magazines, refrigerators with various sodas, etc. Items in these areas can sell up to 64 times faster than the same product on a shelf elsewhere in the store.
Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofits often team up with retailers and restaurants to allow customers to donate an additional amount of their purchase to their charity, which can become a huge source of income. Eye-catching displays like printed cutouts or branded boxes at the retailer’s POS are key to the nonprofit’s success.
Gas Stations
Any time you walk into a gas station you encounter various POP marketing displays. Specifically, near the checkout counter where you can find phone chargers, lighters, gum, snacks, and more.
Car Washes
Often when people are at a car wash, or other car service shop, they have to wait for their car to be ready. During this time, car washes can effectively increase their sales by presenting POP marketing displays near the register or waiting area including displays filled with car accessories, car air fresheners, and more.
What Kind of Customer is POP Marketing for?
POP marketing typically focuses on low-ticket items that are targeted towards impulse buyers who aren’t loyal to a specific brand.
This is because consumers who are categorized as brand shoppers will often choose their preferred branded items while impulse shoppers will often choose a few lower priced items while shopping around as well as choose more low-ticket items as they pass through the checkout line.
While different brick-and-mortar stores have different customer bases, POP marketing in their checkout areas tends to be attractive to every shopper in their design and positioning as they often present items that the consumer considers a “deal” whether that is described as a product on sale, a product that is new in-store, a limited edition product, or a product that is labeled as the “product of the week.”
What Kind of POP Marketing Should I Choose?
When it comes to selecting the final medium by which you will convey your POP marketing messages, there are several options to choose from which include:
Counter Displays
Counter displays, or “prepacks,” are a POP marketing option that often displays low-priced, impulse items and are often constructed using heavy cardstock or cardboard.
They are fairly small or small enough to display on a POP shelf or counter while not breaking up the line of sight between the store clerk and customer. However, they typically take up more space than other POP marketing materials like shelf talkers and table tents and are more eye-catching as a result.
Floor Displays
POP floor displays are like counter displays but are larger and are presented on the floor rather than on a shelf or countertop. They’re commonly constructed from cardstock or corrugated cardboard and often feature a bin or divided compartments filled with the product they’re trying to sell.
Floor displays are POP marketing tools that need to take a few more things into consideration when designing such as structural integrity and floor space required so they will meet retailers’ requirements.
Ceiling Danglers
Ceiling danglers are custom printed signage that hangs from the ceiling, and they are extremely effective at directing shoppers to a specific product while encouraging them to add the specific item to their cart.
Try using ceiling danglers in your next POP marketing strategy to promote a sale or a new product that is available to successfully increase the number of people who buy your product you are promoting.
Shelf Talkers
Shelf talkers or shelf danglers are some of the most affordable and most impactful options in POP marketing.
They provide optimal placement of your POP marketing message while doubling as a branding opportunity to build brand awareness. They are very affordable and effectively help certain products stand out from other products placed on the retail shelves.
Posters
Posters are very effective at pulling consumers in to purchase a specific product. POP posters that go up in the front windows, the front of grocery stores, or on the walls of department stores can help bring people in and keep the advertised product top of mind as they shop.
Furthermore, posters are an affordable POP marketing option that can be combined with other POP marketing materials. For example, a POP poster can increase the number of people who make a product purchase when combined with floor decals, ceiling danglers, and more as when these options are combined, they advertise the POP message multiple times on different levels.
Table Tents & Table Towers
Table tents and table towers are the perfect POP marketing option for retail countertops, for using in the waiting room of offices or service providers, or on the tables of restaurants.
Use these POP materials to promote a specific product that is for sale, a new product available, or to entice a customer to join your rewards program. Or if you’re in the restaurant industry, use table tents to encourage your customers to buy a dessert or add a drink from your happy hour list to their order.
Window Clings
Window clings are the perfect POP marketing tool if you’re setting up your POP display near a window, a mirror, or any other smooth surface. Also, when placed on the windows of your storefront, they effectively draw people into your store while keeping a specific brand or product top of mind while consumers shop.
Banners
Banners are a POP marketing option that can be hung up on walls, from the ceiling, draped over tables, or they can be used as a standalone sign when using an x-stand or retractable banner stand.
They are slightly more expensive than other types of POP marketing materials like posters or table tents, but because of their large scale and durable vinyl material, they can be used for an extended period as well as can be used outside.
Shelf Signs & Aisle Violators
These point-of-purchase tools work just like shelf talkers do as they promote a product and entice customers to buy a specific item by displaying a message on retail shelves. However, these materials typically use clamps or casings which printed messages are inserted into.
For these, standard products like postcards, posters, or flyers can easily and affordably be used to print your POP message on and use as a shelf sign or aisle violator. You can even use a product like a half-fold brochure and print your message on only half of the product while using the blank half as the designated “taping half” and the other half to present your POP marketing message.
Floor Graphics
Floor graphics or floor decals are the perfect point of purchase marketing tool because when they are designed effectively and are placed in a high traffic area, they help direct traffic to the certain product you are promoting.
These are also a great POP marketing option to combine with other materials like posters, shelf talkers, and ceiling danglers.
At the end of the day, the materials you choose for your POP marketing strategy need to reflect your goals and budget as well as coordinate with the location and space you use to display your POP message.
Whether you decide to go with a counter display, shelf talkers, or a full-sized floor display, it’s important to keep all of the details above in mind as you’re going about preparing your POP marketing strategy.
If you’re interested in ordering any of the POP print marketing items described above, simply choose your desired product below to get started today. If you have any questions or are looking for something different, feel free to email us at customerservice@conquestgraphics.com, give us a call at 800-707-9903, or chat in through our live chat tool!
