Merchandising has always played a pivotal role when it came to improving sales in all kinds of businesses. Visual merchandising methods also allowed businesses to show off their creativity while promoting products. Merchandising works since we humans process a huge amount of visual information. So, a store’s visual identity is of paramount importance. And here comes to play the point of sale merchandise.
As every inch of the store costs your money, you should also ensure that you can make money from every unit area without sacrificing the aesthetic appeal. No matter where a customer spends time in your store, they will always have to come down to the point of sale to check out the products they want to buy. Point of sale merchandise is a great way to boost your sales and also promote new products.
What is PoS Merchandise?
Point of Sale merchandise is the items for sale near the check out queue. These generally include assorted low-cost items, such as chocolate bars, mints, snacks, or other edibles. It can also be any other type of products – stationery items, soft toys, electronics, apparel or anything else. Generally, such products are meant to be unplanned purchases – something your customers will notice and pick up while they are in the queue.
Putting low-cost merchandise increases the chance of sales. Depending on what sort of a store you have, you can set up PoS merchandise as anything. If you own a bookstore, you can set up a display of bookmarks, pens and pencils, greetings cards, and other related items. Or else, for a departmental store, you can set up the PoS merchandise stand with snacks and candies. If it’s a home improvement center, you can put up samples of new paints, or new tools that are in the market right now. In the case of an electronics store, you can use USB flash drives, smartphone chargers, surge suppressors and so on. Therefore, according to your business, you can plan out your point of sale marketing strategy.
These are mostly last-minute impulse purchases that one does not typically plan to buy. However, people buy it because these are not quite expensive.
The Types of Point of Sale Merchandise
If you do not have such a set up at your store, then here are a few point of sale marketing materials that you can use to highlight the products at the point of sale.
Wobblers
Wobblers are low-cost promotional card stock labels that are attached to shelves using plastic strips. They can be attached to almost any surface, and once attached, they wobble. Wobblers come in multiple shapes and sizes and are a simple way to make a product stand out at the point-of-sale.
Shelf-Talkers
These are small signs that you can attach to shelves near the point of sale to highlight certain products.
Stoppers
Stoppers are much larger signs. Often, they are attached to shelves that are dedicated to a single product. They can also be extended outwards from the shelf and be used to hold sample products too. This is quite useful for holding sample products, or other promotional materials.
Price Tags
Price tags are a very straightforward way to show which products are on sale. You can add the tag to the shelves, or even on the products themselves.
Packaging
If you are selling your own products at the store, the packaging can be a big part of the marketing campaign. You can use the packaging itself to promote the products.
How to strategically design your packaging? Here is useful information!
Promotional Stands
These are narrow shelves where you can highlight a single product. The promotional stands also allow creative arrangement of the products.
Banners
These are a great way to promote products near the point of sale display. Banners offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to their size and the content that can be printed.
Hard Posters
An alternative to banners, hard posters can be easily set up on easels, can be hung from the ceiling or attached to shelves.
Implementing PoS Merchandising
Simply using a lot of marketing materials to promote products at the point of sale is not enough. There are a few strategies that you need to follow when you want to boost your sales using the point of sale merchandise. Here are some tips on how you can do that.
Capture the Attention Quickly
When you are putting up merchandise near the PoS, you need to make them stand out from the rest of the products on sale on the shelves. This involves being creative about how you want to portray the product. You can use the marketing materials that are mentioned above.
Feature a Low-ticket or Sale Item
People do not really want to plan to buy the items that are there near the PoS. Therefore, featuring a low-ticket or a sale item can ensure that more people can afford to buy while waiting at the PoS queue.
Feature a Seasonal or Special Gift Item
Seasonal products or festive products get sold faster in the queue as people will always find them to be a rational purchase.
Position at Eye Level or “Buy Level”
Position the products at the eye-level where people will see the products. If they are located too high or too low, they may not catch the attention of a potential buyer.
Make Products Available for a Limited Time
Making products available for a short duration also gives your customers a reason to buy the products. Even if a customer wants a product, they may wish to make the purchase later as they are not in a hurry.
Physically Located in the Paths to the Cashier
If the products are accessible without leaving the queue, the chances of people buying the products are higher. Hence, you can be generous while selecting the point of sale merchandise items.
Benefits of PoS Merchandising
One of the biggest benefits of point of sale merchandising is that it boosts sales without much investment. It is also a great way to introduce new products or products that are on sale. People will definitely notice the products when they are located near the cashier or the counter. Also, positioning marketing communications at the point of buy persuades consumers to check out a product or a brand.
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