Paper POS: The Beverage Distributor’s Sales Workhorse

In this post, we continue to develop the case for the Point-of-Sale (POS) Marketing at-Retail investment — In whatever form POS can take: Digital, paper, or floor displays.

Over the past few years, we’ve learned, despite constant innovations in digital signage, “old fashioned” paper signs and product displays continue as critical line items in beverage distributor’s marketing at-retail budgets.  Digital signage continues to make inroads at the point of sale, although at an adoption rate slower than previously predicted.

That Was Then. This Is Now.

In 2006, Digital Signage was regularly and frequently forecasted to be “the next big trend in POS.” Printed signs were about to go the way of hand-painted wooden signs — if you believed the POS pundits of the day.

Yet, today it’s a different story altogether.  Temporary POS — rather than fading into memory as it was to be displaced by digital signs — is actually working harder than ever.  Digital signage solutions have apparently gotten off to a much slower start than predicted, as suppliers, brands and alcohol beverage distributors evaluate the merits versus the costs of incorporating digital POS displays into their marketing at-retail budgets.

Digital vs. Printed Signage

Inevitably, as digital sign availability and variety continues to rise and costs continue to fall, digital signage adoption will grow.  Now, however, it seems likely that printed and digital POS signs will likely co-exist for some time. Moreover, another type of POS, floor displays — often taking the form of elaborate set-pieces — continue to be widely and successfully utilized. For ahcohol beverage distributors especially, floor-displays still get more of the customer’s attention than the typical 2D digital sign hanging overhead.

— Mark Fullerton