Bridging the sales gap: Point-of-purchase

Store Equipment & Design, Nov, 2000 by Richard Jay

Here's how to choose the right supplier and displays.

Advertising motivates consumers to come to a store and buy a product. But once the shopper is inside, it's the point-of-purchase display that bridges the gap between the customer and the cash register.

Never forget this rule: The right merchandiser can close the sale.

And making that sale is no easy thing anymore. Consumers are more educated than ever and are bombarded with more and more merchandising. These are some savvy--and discriminating--shoppers walking the aisles.

There's also increased brand competition. Those marketers continue to face off for limited shelf and floor space in supermarkets.

This all makes innovative, point-of-purchase merchandising strategies more important than ever. It's imperative to develop high-quality, consumer-friendly displays in the highly competitive retail environment of supermarkets.

But before you begin to work with a merchandising specialist, you should know the basics of the business...

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SUPPLIER

A full-service point-of-purchase company will listen to all of your merchandising needs and create solutions. Strive to choose a supplier who wants to work with you as a "business partner" for a long-term relationship.

Find a supplier with a reliable track record and good reputation. A respectable P-O-P manufacturer has worked side-by-side with leading supermarket and grocery chains, brand marketers and manufacturers. Ideally, your P-O-P supplier should do many things, from providing comprehensive market research, field testing, prototype and model-making to exclusive manufacturing, warehousing and distributing capabilities.

Your supplier should have a finger on the pulse of the marketplace. That includes listening and meeting with distributors and retailers to understand and learn their merchandising needs.

An experienced supplier is supported by expansive manufacturing and warehousing facilities. If you wish to purchase stock displays, look for a company with sufficient warehousing capabilities to inventory "just-in-time" displays for last-minute shipping needs.

P-O-P AND THE LIMITED BUDGET

If you have a limited budget and tight scheduling requirements, you can choose from a variety of stock P-O-P displays such as modular floor display racks which are durable, economical and constructed of high-quality plastic. They are perfectly suited for endcap, corner or island merchandising.

One good example comes from Great Brands of Europe, which customized a Stack Rack for its Evian brand of bottled water. The goal? To increase sales and resolve out-of-stock merchandising by utilizing an area considered dead space. The Evian Stack Rack assembled both vertically as an upright floor stand and horizontally as a floor seller. Its modularity enabled supermarket staff to interconnect as many racks as needed, in multiple configurations. The merchandiser featured an angular design, with the Evian brand name and logo printed on all shelf facings tilted up toward the consumer.

About 2,500 displays were distributed nationwide. The display's compact, modular design and angled shelves helped retailers increase inventory, and lift sales by cross-merchandising bottled water with complementary products, such as fruits and vegetables--targeting health-conscious consumers who want single-serve bottled water with meals-to-go from the salad bar.

700 COKE BOTTLES

Larger stock displays are both versatile and successful in supermarkets. When Coca-Cola needed a flexible, attractive and durable display to secure prime location and sufficient floor space for its brands in King Soopers supermarkets, it customized the Flex-End Display System.

A vertical floor stand and beverage organizer featuring tilting metal shelves and gravity-feed slides, the display system offered a space-saving, cost-effective end-cap configuration with wire side racks. The display boosted sales and product rotation; increased product capacity up to 700 two-liter bottles (with side shelves) while minimizing out-of-stocks; reduced stocking time; and improved consumer-friendliness.

Its unique configuration enabled Coca-Cola to integrate a strategic mix of different and complementary carbonated and noncarbonated beverages, including PowerAde and Dasani bottled water. After placing 80 merchandising units in all King Soopers grocery stores, Coca-Cola reported significant sales increases, including a 20 percent sales lift for its noncarbonated brands.

A&W BRIDGE

If you want to boost beverage sales, try cold sampling merchandisers, such as ice barrels, countertop coolers and refrigerators that keep beverages cold while building consumer awareness for your company or brand name.

One creative idea materialized when Dr Pepper/Seven-Up, Inc. wanted to increase sales and inventory by using new locations in supermarkets. The company customized the Beverage Bridge (a stock display) for its A&W brand of soft drinks. An extension of Dr Pepper/Seven-Up's marketing efforts to tie the brand with ice cream floats, the display was designed to suspend 36 two-liter bottles of A&W Root Beer across the top of ice cream coffin coolers--creating a true bridge. The bridge's sign told consumers that ice cream was below the display and soda was on top--"Take one of each and make a float."