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Reed Immer, digital marketing specialist and Carolyn Walker, managing partner at Response Marketing, are here today to talk about creating effective in-store merchandising for consumer electronics.
Carolyn is one of thirty five people in the world who is ‘marketing at retail’ certified and is here to tell us what exactly in-store merchandising is:
In-store Merchandising is a part of a company’s overall shopper marketing program. It’s important to focus on the true path of purchase that consumers take, and notice that the path of purchase usually starts online before the consumer heads to the store. There are many different types of merchandising: disposable, semi-disposable and permanent displays.
- Disposable Displays: These are throw away types of things; shelf talkers, point of purchase materials, counter units, PDQ Trays (selling right at the check out area); anything made out of temporary materials.
- Semi-Permanent Displays: Will usually last around 3-6 months; Shippers and end-caps; anything that is out there trying to sell the product for an extended period of time.
- Permanent Displays: Last for years at a time; great example of category management, think about when you go into Best Buy and go down the Mice and Keyboard aisle and see the displays of Mice that are out for years at a time for the consumer to test before they purchase.
The term in-store merchandising covers a lot, and can have a huge effect on persuading the buyer to purchase or not. How exactly does the persuasion process work? There are three key things that occur: attract, engage, provoke.
- Attract: Display must look good and be visually engaging to spark a consumer’s interest from far away.
- Engage: Interest the consumer in your product; are there benefits for them, does it make their life easier?
- Provoke: Urge the consumer to actually purchase the product; interactivity with display is key. Engage the customer in order to push them to buy.
There are a lot of things brands do to build overall awareness of their products, so consumers can connect from TV/internet ads, all the way through to the store. There is no clear point where this connection to users occurs, but specific strategies are used. Three things are used for this: QR Codes, use of Traditional Digital Media and Geo-Targeting.
- QR Codes: This is becoming more widespread and adopted by the general audience. Customers are scanning these codes, and are then brought to a website or video about the product. As smart phones become more prevalent, these codes will continue to evolve.
- Digital Media: Dr. Scholl’s has recently participated in this by developing custom Orthotics Kiosks in local convenience stores. When consumers are shopping online, a banner will pop up urging a consumer to travel to a local store to try the orthotic’s at the kiosk before purchasing them.
- Geo-Targeting: ‘Checking-In’ through the use of social media. Gap did this about a year ago, where they said any customer who comes to check in at Gap would get a free pair of jeans. This drove consumers to their store.
Carolyn Walker – One of thirty-five people in the world who are Marketing at Retail Certified