At the most recent IRI Seminar Martin Kingdon from POPAI explained how POP can often be the crucial factor in whether a purchase is made or not.
Traditionally, the retail space itself has never been a bought medium. As a result, agencies have not taken it seriously and so there has been a lack of connection between trade marketing and advertising.
The purpose of point of purchase (POP) is, very basically, to stop the shopper and as such differs from point of sale which is simply the location where the purchase is made. POP can often be the crucial factor in whether a purchase is made or not.
It may seem obvious, but having advertising where people buy things is a good idea. People’s attention spans and their ability to retain information is notoriously small so advertisements at the point of purchase – especially if it reinforces other advertising, be it on television or elsewhere – is an even better idea.
Another great idea is to promote products at the shelf, and products at full margin, rather than solely promoting products that are already on promotion. By all means draw attention to your promoted products but it is just as important, if not more so, to promote your products that are not on promotion.
Social change is having an increasing impact on how products are advertised and promoted. People are spending 15% less time at home, which means that potentially at least, they are spending more time (and therefore money) in-store. Manufacturers and retailers need to take advantage of this behaviour by increasing types of advertising outside the home, be it through above the line activities or in-store advertising.
The future of commercial television is under severe threat from a fall in advertising revenue. Twenty years ago, you needed three advertising slots to reach 80% of the population. Nowadays, you need 75 slots to reach the same audience. It is clear therefore that the behaviour of manufacturers needs to adapt to this change in order to continue reaching those potential customers.
Retailers, meanwhile, are finally waking up to the fact that they own their own space but still don’t seem to regard it as a tool for category growth. Whilst it is still at a relatively early stage of development, Tesco TV is at least trying something different to attract and maintain its customers.
It is only a matter of time before the advertising agencies become more involved. Shoppers will simply become bored with grocery retailing if more POP doesn’t happen. But it will, and it will become more sophisticated in terms of planning, application and delivery.