Explore the Strategy of Point-of-Sale Marketing

Point-of-Sale marketing
You�re waiting in line at the supermarket�and, as you�re not particularly
interested in staring at the back of the customer in front of you, you glance
around the line.

The display of candy bars within immediate reach reminds you that you�re a little
hungry, so you grab one (it�s on sale). Oh, and that magazine looks interesting.
You�re already reading an article when you get to the cash register, where the
teller asks if you want to donate $1 to a charity; and doing so, you write your
name on a little heart placard that gets placed on the wall with a hundred other
hearts from other donators. Finally, you complete your purchase(s) and get your
receipt�with several extra items you hadn't expected to buy.

The most common method of point of sale marketing is the merchandise display, while
other methods include the use of signage, receipts, and suggestive selling by the
retailer at the POS.

EXAMPLES OF SHOPPER MARKETING

Maxwell House � After the coffeemaker introduced a new brew, they initiated a
massive shopper marketing campaign. They handed out over 2 million sample cups
along with a coupon for the coffee in over 8,400 retail outlets. The redemption
rate for the coupons was the highest the company had ever seen.
Wal-Mart - Wal-Mart sells more cold/flu medicine than any other retailer. But they
discovered that when people are sick, they often don�t want to navigate a gigantic
store to buy medicine. The retailer worked with manufacturers to design in store
ads encouraging customers to �stock up� on medicine and tissues before the flu
season hit.

Explore basic psychological concepts behind marketing various products ...

Understanding the complex process with which the minds of consumers take is the
holy grail of marketing. It is the key to creating wildly successful marketing
campaigns and expanding the reach of whatever product you offer.

And as any astute individual who has seen large corporate marketing campaigns fail
miserably to make a positive imprint on the minds of consumers, understanding
consumer psychology is not easy.

The following are some of the aspects the articles listed below touch upon:

The Psychology of Marketing

How does psychology fit into marketing various types of products? Follow the
process marketers take consumers through to arrive at a purchase decision.
Commercials, Advertisements, Why are they doing that?!
Learn the reasons behind the creation of famous commercials (more complex than you
may think).
Those great Marketing Careers...
Explore the careers associated with developing successful marketing campaigns and
learn how people are getting there.

Shopper marketing often involves a number of small efforts spread across a range of
physical locations and marketing channels. Keeping track of all these efforts
requires a careful plan that can inform every marketing decision.

Marketers must carefully analyze products and their target customers. Wal-Mart, for
instance, segments their customers into a number of categories based on their
needs, ranging from price/value shoppers, to one-stop shoppers and consumers with a
brand aspiration. Each customer visits Wal-Mart for a different reason and has a
different experience in the store (See also Database Marketing).

Once the plan has identified the features that it will emphasize, the company
designs marketing materials that reflect this message. Marketers examine how a
product is packaged, the way it is placed on the shelf, the products around it, and
its overall place in a store. For example, gum makers sell more gum when it is next
to the register than stocked in the candy aisle.

The final step of the plan will be to study and evaluate its effectiveness. As the
plan is being developed, metrics should be identified that clearly define the goals
of the campaign and the measures of success. This could mean anything from
increasing sales, to gaining an advantage over a competitor, or shifting the
perception of a brand. The campaign should be evaluated at multiple times
throughout its duration, and if targets are not met, the campaign should experiment
with new marketing strategies.