Market Smarter with Point-of-Sale (POS) Tracking Tools

To Start Correlating Incremental Beer, Wine & Spirits Sales with Your POS Marketing Programs, You Must First Automate Your POS Tracking

We’ve implemented many new OnTrak customers in recent years, and it occurred to me that every new customer adopted an OnTrak product with the long-range goal of helping them to understand what POS materials provide the greatest impact on the sales of the brands they carry. 

What I sometimes forget is that it is important to use OnTrak’s products first to automate the ordering, work-flow and placement of POS (temporary and permanent signage, menus and samples). Then second, to use the data collected by our products to aid in the measurement and management of POS initiatives. 

It’s important to not jump head-first into POS marketing measurement, correlation and analytics until you have automated the ordering, production and placement activities. We refer to this as tracking of your in-house marketing and graphics department. 

However, we do want you to be aware that once you have implemented and been using a POS tracking system for a few months you will have taken several substantial steps down the path toward using the data you will have collected to measure the impact of your various POS programs on sales. 

Armed with information from our systems, you will be able to track, measure and manage high-impact POS campaigns.

First Things First

There are immediate benefits to be gained by deploying the tracking function provided by an on-line POS tool. Beverage alcohol distributors who invest in POS digital tracking tools to automate an often cumbersome manual process (POS ordering and production) almost immediately enjoy lowered time requirements and a reduction of the costs associated with POS ordering, production and placement, and increases in the speed to market of these important retail marketing materials. 

Also, it is important to recognize a key value of automating your POS orders and production is in the collection of data. If you currently do not have a digital method for tracking your POS orders and placements, you will find it virtually impossible, later, to measure incremental sales that may be correlated directly to your POS marketing initiatives.

It is important to think of automating the tracking of your POS marketing materials as a function similar to (and nearly as valuable as) the automation of your sales order entry function. In fact, once you have automated both your product sales order entry, and your POS order entry systems, you will be well on your way to understanding the sales-driving impact of your various POS programs. 

Once you have both systems implemented, you will be well on your way to having the Digital Tools required to develop and maintain competitive advantage in today’s business climate.

You’ve invested in order entry systems, inventory accounting systems, warehouse management systems even in systems to keep track of the maintenance of your truck fleet, energy and fuel usage. 

It is now time for you to do yourself a favor and start tracking your POS marketing activities on the way to measuring the incremental sales associated with measured and managed POS programs. The POS systems — such as they were — of the past are insufficient to keep up with today’s challenges and today’s competition.

You’re just a few weeks away from automating your POS ordering, production and placement. It’s all down-hill after that.

I urge you to schedule an on-line demonstration of our Digital Tools to help you Track, Measure and Manage you POS Marketing investment.

Go to www.ontraksoftware.com, and click on the Request a Demo button, and select the products of most interest to you.