It’s hard enough resisting the temptation of a chocolate bar when
they’re left so tantalisingly close to the counter. All that
self-restraint and will power that had been employed so efficiently
throughout the shopping trip starts to melt as the queue leaves you
staring directly into its crumbly, chocolaty eyes.
But if point of sale displays weren’t already hard enough to resist,
it’s even harder now they’ve gone all shiny and technological on us.
Promotions have become steadily more interactive to the point that where
once stood just cardboard and glue now stands a fully functioning
computer puzzle with just the right amount of flashing lights to attract
a tired shopper’s brain like a moth to, well, a flashing light.
Gone are the corny slogans and dented containers, replaced by intriguing
graphics and genuine architecture. The focus for point of purchase has
shifted from thrusting items in your face to gently delivering them to
you on a platter of the most innovative technology and genuine marketing
genius. Take Green Room Retail’s Sanyo campaign – their displays
created a ray of light that made it appear that God himself was
delivering these LCD screens. And if God wants you to buy a TV, you buy a
TV!
Shelves are no longer just shelves in this point of purchase world. They
are intricately designed pieces of art, a building, a home for the
product, complete with fixtures and fittings, a place where it belongs.
According to industry research, over 50% of all purchases are impulse
buys on one level or another, and this new level of marketing, these
interactive point of sale displays, guide those impulses for you, taking
the hassle out of spending your money.
So from here on in, it’s going to be even harder to resist that tasty chocolate treat.
Till, We Meet Again
