One Blog |December 14, 2012 | POS Tracking Software

A Game Plan for POP Marketing Excellence - Path to Purchase Institute

Mark Fullerton

**POS Marketing Data: What You Really Need for a Happier New Year**

As prospective customers review our applications that track, measure and manage the costs and effectiveness of their Point-of-Sale/Point-of-Purchase (POS/POP) marketing initiatives, one of the first things they tell us is that they have “little or no idea” how much they actually spend on POS/POP marketing — Beyond the equipment and supplies.

Typically companies who are considering adopting OnTrak’s products tell us their current POS/POP process lacks a single point-of-control and is largely made of up manual steps making the costs and effectiveness of their POS campaigns virtually impossible to track and measure. - Even more difficult to control and manage.

Here are few of the questions we typically ask or our prospective customers:

How much of a sales increase did you get from your POS/POP marketing investment?
Did you get a good return-on-investment (ROI) on your marketing campaigns?
Did you achieve the maximum bill-back recovery from your suppliers?
Do you know where your marketing materials are placed by brand, customer and rep? Are you sure?
Do you have all the marketing data you need to help improve your business?

Over the last 5 to 6 years there have been companies that had answers to some of these questions, but frankly they are few and far between.

Industry Research - CPGs

Most consumer goods companies (CPG), even if they lack metrics, do rely on POS/POP to help turn shoppers into buyers. Increasingly, POS is called upon to do the heavy lifting when it comes to boosting brand and product sales.

According to recent studies, POS/POP marketing costs have become a CPG’s #2 expense item; second only to cost-of-goods-sold. These same studies reveal that suppliers who use POS/POP metrics experience sales increases approaching 12%, and time-to-market decreases of nearly 50%. (See Note) With so much at stake it’s no wonder that CFO’s, COO’s and even CEO’s have become personally involved in getting to know more about POS metrics. ‘Not knowing’ just doesn’t seem to be an option in these difficult economic and competitive times.

Perhaps 2013 will usher in a new set of demands for marketers across the broad CPG spectrum to adopt systems that enable manufacturers, distributors and retailers to track their POS/POP materials, measure their costs vs. sales lift (aka ROI), and manage effective marketing campaigns.

OnTrak - Customer Success Story

The good news is that OnTrak’s products have been available and proven in-use for over 7 years. All of our tracking solutions easily pay for themselves by providing CPG companies with POS tracking and accountability that yield cost savings and campaign ROI - Giving marketers more data and time to create even more effective at-retail initiatives.

A very good example is our first customer, Silver Eagle - One of Anheuser-Busch’s top distributors. In 2006, they began using SignTrak, our first Internet software application, to track, measure and manage POS signs and displays in over 13,000 accounts. Their sales team leaders enter sign order information and track sales data to increase both profits and market share. Since SignTrak provides Silver Eagle with a single point-of-control for their signage orders, sign production has been cut to one or two days improving Silver Eagle’s speed to market. SignTrak provides Silver Eagle with a true competitive advantage. (See Note)

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