Tip of the Week

Business SMART:	Three Feet from the Sale - POP Displays
	By: Dennis A. Conforto A-Z Media Group

Point-of-Purchase (POP) is a part of the last three feet of your adverting budget. Think about it, if you’re a manufacturer, you spend advertising dollars in the industry magazines to drive traffic to retail stores that carry your products. If you’re a retailer, you spend your advertising dollars to drive traffic to your specific store. In addition, retailers spend marketing dollars on store signage, bringing in those who are driving past your store. Once the consumers are in your parking lot, you spend more money on your window displays to get them to walk through the front doors. During each of these marketing steps, you draw the customer closer and closer to the store. You can measure these investments by feet. For example: 85% of your business will come from consumers within 25 miles of your store. If you don’t believe it, start tracking your sales by zip code and you will see this number for the most part is true; there are exceptions, but they are far and few between. In short, your email, postcard, newspaper, radio and TV spots are to get them to the road outside your parking lot - in other words, a few hundred feet from your front door. From there, your store signage pulls them into the parking lot; your window signage pulls them in the front door; and your category signage takes them to the product. Now you’re down to the last 3 feet of what, in effect, will be your sale. Studies show that 75% of all consumer purchase decisions happen within the store. And this is key, because the other, larger forms of advertising drive the consumer to the store, but it is your POP signage that helps them to decide on what they want to purchase and how much. POP advertising is a joint venture between retailer and manufacturer. A retailer can tell whether manufacturer is retail-oriented by the POP tools they provide when the product is purchased. Having said that, if the manufacturer isn’t retail-oriented enough to have POP tools then the retailer shouldn’t use that as an excuse for not having the POP tools they need to sell products within the store. POP advertising tools are meant to attract the eye and typically have one of three messages: 1. Buy me right NOW this is a hot product. Consumers love to buy a hot product and they need confirmation that it is the latest greatest thing out there. This is because most people like being first and not behind the rest of the crowd. 2. This is the unique problem this product solves. Consumers are always looking for ways to solve their problems. You can help them to succeed by clearly stating the problem and how your product solves it. 3. This is how this simple-to-use product works. Consumers are looking for simple products that have elegant solutions to them. And all of us on occasion see a new product and think wow that is clever, I wish I had thought of that. Shoppers love signs and signage. Did you know that over 50% of your consumers just want to be able to shop – with no help from anyone in your store? Of course the only way they can do that is with outstanding signage. The more people who ask where they can find specific products, the more you know your store signage is off. This is why the relationship between a retailer and a manufacturer is so important. Since 75% of the consumer’s decision is made at the time they are in the store, your store has to be formatted in such away that products are screaming “Buy me!”, “You will love me!”, “Oh please take me home with you!” and “I will solve your problems and make you happy!” Choose Partnership over Discounts: POP displays are one more reason why retailers need to stop looking at the kind of discount they can get from a manufacturer as the basis of the relationship. That is not the foundation for a healthy business relationship. What independent retailers need more than anything else is a true partnership! Heck, if I were a retailer today I would rather have a partnership that builds my sales at 15% per year than receive a 15% discount. There is more money for the retailer and the manufacturer in increased sales than in discounts. And yet, retailers are blinded by the discounting models in favor of the healthy business relationship that states, “Let’s build our business together.” The fact is: the discounting model is destroying the investment model for a healthy partnership based on growth. No retailer ever went out of business because they didn’t get enough discounts; they went out of business because then didn’t get enough sales. So, if you want to make your store POP, start working with manufacturers who understand what a retailer loyalty program looks like, and if they don’t know what one looks like then send them to me. And that is what being business SMART is all about…